Zero no Itan-sha
by PhantasyPen
Summary: Ramza slays Ultima only to awaken in a land not of Ivalice. Based off the PSP version War of the Lions
1. Chapter 0

War of the Lions and Zero no Tsukaima Crossover:

Summary: After chasing off his allies and slaying Virgo on his own Ramza awakens from the explosion at the airship graveyard to find himself in a place not of Ivalice. This is my first fanfiction, please review and be merciful, no flames please.

Prologue

Ramza couldn't believe his eyes; they had slain Leo quickly enough, only for his blood to awaken the Virgo stone, Ajora possessing his sister right before his eyes. The Dark Knight refused to despair however, hefting Ragnarok and Excalibur in his hands, preparing to attack, only to halt as Ajora writhed, Alma fighting to regain control. Shouting his sister's name Ramza was shocked as Ajora and Alma cried out, a beam of light separating the two back into separate bodies.

"Ramza…" Alma began as she passed out on the deck of the airship, Agrias and the others rushed over to her. Looking at the white haired copy of his younger sibling Ramza found himself snarling in rage.

"Construct 8, guard my sister, Agrias, take everyone to the surface, quickly, Mustadio, Orleandeu, take care of any attackers," Ramza ordered, hefting his swords and growling darkly, "I will slay Ajora."

"But Ramza, how will you-" Agrias began, only for him to cut her off.

"Just _**GO**_" Ramza ordered again as Mustadio grabbed Agrias' arm and began to drag her off the airship, Construct 8 carrying Alma to safety as Ramza snarled.

"To thwart my coming… you would dare assay?" Ajora began darkly, "No. It shall not be. Loyal minions… heed my call—to me!" Ajora screamed, summoning four demons from the Abyss. "I suffer spite… from neither lord… nor serf!" The False Saint cried, surrounding herself in red light before changing into a white angel dressed in red bondage wear.

"Your defiance reaps you naught but death's embrace!" Ultima, the High Seraph calls out, only to scream in pain as Ramza dashes in next to her, Excalibur and Ragnarok digging into the blood angel's sides. Grinning like a man possessed Ramza, the last warrior of the Beoulve household and a heretic to the Church of Glabados struck merely twice with his blades, the High Seraph falling like grass to his swords.

"Impossible... this end to meet…" Ultima began, turning to look at Ramza, "I see it now, too late. In you… his blood, my vanquisher in times… long past. But not so soon… shall I accept this defeat…" The Lucavi panted between labored breaths, transforming into a rotting form, a mockery of all things religious and holy. The thing was now thrice as tall as a mortal man and sporting ruined wings the color of blood. "Your soul itself shall not escape my wrath!" The beast declared. Snarling with hate and fervor Ramza again went to work, his swords hacking at the Arch-Seraph as a bright light suddenly flashed, blinding him. The vengeful Dark Knight was not to be dissuaded however as the Lucavi cut into his black Oriental armor, a multi-colored light covering Ramza as black and red energy flew down the length of Excalibur, stealing life from Ultima and healing Ramza's wounds. With a final cry of defeat the demon became enveloped in holy light, the airship beneath Ramza's feet tearing itself asunder beneath the assault.


	2. Chapter 1

_Guest C __12/17/12 . chapter 1 _

_-What classes does Ramza know? _

_A:Ninja, Samurai, Knight, Geomancer, Monk, Squire, Onion Knight, Dark Knight, Black/White/Time Mage, Archer, Thief, Lancer/Dragoon, Chemist  
-Will you have it where he has access to all classes he's worked on or be like the game with two classes worth of skills?_

_A: Ramza's primary skillset will change depending on his gear; for example, when he is unarmed he resorts to Monk techniques. Also, things like the Knight class' skills are useable so long as he has a sword but Jump will require he has a polearm of some sort, same for Aim, which will require a bow. However, he can use any spell or Geomancy he wants to freely._

_I apologize for OOC-ness, in my mind Ramza is the concept "Noblesse Oblige" personified in a badass bishounen. Naturally this means that nobody wants to even try to peg him as a commoner and Louise isn't immune to it yet because his battle mode hasn't shown itself. _

**Chapter 1: Summoned**

The next thing Ramza saw when he recovered from Ultima's blast was a grassy field, a group of people that looked like mages were all around him. As he surveyed his new surroundings, noting the blueness of the sky and the large castle that was a short distance from his location, he realized that there was a young girl staring intently up at his face, studying him. The girl had long, strawberry-blond hair that reached her hips and looked to be around 16 or 17. Another, and possibly the most important, thing about the girl was that she was exceedingly cute, the look of awe and wonder in her eyes causing every single "big brother" instinct in his body to fire full force as he gave the girl his best, most reassuring smile, dropping to one knee with his left palm over his heart, bowing slightly.

"Hello Miss," he said smoothly, not noticing the blush on the girl's face as he spoke, what he did notice was that the fading of the halo surrounding him that was caused by his reactionary skill Dragonheart.

(scene break)

Louise couldn't believe it, she'd succeeded in her summon spell, it hadn't even blown up in her face like other spells did. As the girl looked to see what kind of powerful, majestic creature she had summoned she found herself transfixed, alongside every other student present. The creature before her wasn't a creature at all, it was human; at least she _thought_ he was human, there was an air about the man before her, a man possibly only two years older than her, which seemed to feel like she was staring at a dragon or gryphon, the man seemed to positively _radiate_ nobility, the white aura around him only enhancing that effect. When the man flashed her that smile, bowing gracefully and speaking, she found herself unable to do anything but blush for ten full seconds.

"H-h-hello," Louise finally managed to get out, stammering shyly as her classmates stared dumbly at the man before her. "h-Who are you?" She asked next, watching the boy carefully.

"I am Ramza, third son of the Beoulve household," The boy replied, his smile causing her to feel warm and protected as she tried to process what he said. She had never heard of the Beoulve house but the blond boy before her could not be anything but nobility. His armor pegged him to be a foreigner, perhaps that was why?

(scene break)

A few hours after being called forth; a short time that included being kissed and being informed he was now a familiar, with a set of strange runes that resembled ancient Ivalician being burned into his left hand as proof, Ramza now found himself sitting in his new master's bedroom, the pinkette sound asleep as he stared at the door, lying on a mattress on hay while he thought. His friends most likely thought he was dead, his sister was safe, and Ultima was dead, overall he saw no reason to return as of yet. With that reasoning in mind Ramza smiled softly and closed his eyes, dreaming a strange dream in which Agrias tried to pin him against a tree naked, Meliadoul and, gods above help him, _Millueda_ of all women joining in while Alma ran all about dressed in a puppy costume.

When Ramza awoke he was surprised and a little embarrassed to find the girl, Louise's, panties flung near him. Louise herself was still in bed, snoring so cutely that he found himself nearly overcome by his brotherly instinct to hug the doll-like girl, she was just so adorable. Standing up without a sound Ramza swiftly undid his armor, standing in a blue tunic with brown leggings as he walked over to Louise, gently whispering into her ear to wake up.

"It is morning milady," Ramza said gently as he smiled brightly at the girl.

"Mnnnnnn~ five more minutes Cattleya…" His tiny master managed to get out sleepily, only for him to quickly remove the covers, startling her awake.

"h-Who are you?!" The girl shrieked in shock as she tried to get away from him, looking at him pitifully and leaving Ramza feeling guilty for some reason.

"I am your familiar Milady," He reminded her gently.

"H-huh? Oh… right." Louise trailed off, looking away. "Give me my clothes will you?" She asked suddenly and Ramza complied by handing her, her uniform and swiftly exiting the room.

"I shall be just outside the door," Ramza informed Louise, stepping out into the hallway before she can reply. After stepping outside Ramza was confronted by three identical doors, presumably the rooms of other students, a dark skinned girl with fiery hair that stood at about his eye level stepping out. The first thing that was noticeable about the girl was definitely her bust, it was exceedingly large and the girl herself enjoyed showing it off.

"Hello," Ramza greeted the girl, smiling in that heart-throbbing regal way he had.

"Hello," the girl replied, giving Ramza a look that made him rather uncomfortable, it reminded him of the girls in the brothels Gafgarrion often dragged him and Ladd to when Ramza was a mercenary, it was the look of a woman who wanted a man in her bed and decided the man she picked was never getting away. When Louise stepped out the door of her room the girl grinned broadly.

"Good morning, Louise."

Louise returned the greeting with a frown.

"Good morning... Kirche."

"That... is your familiar?" Kirche asked somewhat mockingly, pointing at Ramza.

"That's right."

"Ahaha! So it really is a human! That's amazing!"

Ramza found that he felt strangely offended and resentful for some reason at that point, he had slain _Lucavi_ for crying out loud!

'_Even if I am human, I am a damned powerful one.'_ Ramza fumed silently to himself.

"It's just like you to summon a commoner with 'Summon Servant.' What else to expect from Louise the Zero?"

Louise's white cheeks flushed scarlet.

"Shut up."

"I summoned a familiar yesterday, too. Unlike a certain somebody, I was successful on my first try."

"Really."

"And, if you're going to have a familiar, it should be a good one, like this. Flame!"

Kirche called her familiar triumphantly. From her room, a large, dark-red lizard slithered out. A wave of heat hit Ramza alongside the lizard, which seemed to be purring happily and had hearts for eyes.

"S-salamander!" Ramza shouted in shock, suddenly tossing the flaming lizard away from him and causing the poor thing to stare dejectedly at him like a kicked puppy. Feeling somewhat guilty Ramza conceded to conscience before casting a minor Will-o-Wisp for the lizard to munch on.

"M-magic?" Both girls asked in surprise, staring at Ramza hesitantly.

"No, Geomancy, but I can wield Black and White magicks when I need to." Ramza corrected, giving both girls a strange look which they returned to him.

"Right, um I'll be off now!" Kirche said hastily, walking away with Flame following after briefly looking conflicted.

After she disappeared Louise shook an adorably angry fist in her direction.

"Milady, that is unbecoming of nobility." Ramza said in a scolding tone, which earned him an angry glare in response.

"Shut up! How is it that that… that _Booby Monster_ gets a salamander while I get you?!" Louise shrieked indignantly, pummeling her fists futilely against Ramza's chest.

"Milady, your familiar is supposed to be the one that is best suited to you, yes?" Ramza began...

"Yes."

"Then perhaps the spell simply chose someone who could compensate for your shortcomings?" Ramza offered, his elbow extending towards Louise. "But that can be addressed later, shall I escort you to the cafeteria now Milady?" Ramza asked with a brotherly smile.


	3. Chapter 2

_Someone mentioned after the previous chapter that Louise seems too timid, but when you think about it she really isn't out of line here. I mean, the main reason she beat up Saito was he teased too hard and had hormones, Ramza is teasing her like an older sibling and has been nothing but a gentleman since she summoned him. Therefore, she hasn't had a reason to try and make him explode yet._

**Chapter 2: Exposed**

Walking down the halls Ramza found himself feeling oddly positive about his current ordeal. He had been summoned away from his home yes, but he had been about to die anyways so that was fine, he had no way of contacting his sister yes, but that was a good thing in his mind, that just meant the Church couldn't use her against him. Besides that, his friends were there for her, they would keep her safe.

The classrooms in the Academy of Magic were similar to university lecture halls. And like everything else, they were constructed from stone. The lecturing teacher stood at the lowest level, and the seats were arranged upward like stairs. When Ramza and Louise entered, every student in the room simultaneously turned their heads towards them.

And then the laughter began. Kirche was there as well, surrounded by a group of boys.

_Why are those boys surrounding her like that? Are large breasts really that impressive? _Ramza couldn't help but wonder, Agrias had had a large chest but they had merely been colleagues on a battlefield, nothing more, although, Zacaeus had once suggested that Ramza should court her when things cleared up, much to his embarrassment and everyone else's amusement. Deciding to forget about his memories of his platoon for the moment Ramza began to examine the different familiars gathered in the room. Smiling softly Ramza noted that the familiars were a varied bunch. Kirche's salamander was curled asleep under her chair. There were students with owls resting on their shoulders. From a window, a gigantic snake peered into the class. One boy whistled, and the snake withdrew its head. Other than those, there were also ravens and cats. As he continued to look around Ramza spotted what looked like a basilisk, and alongside it was a creature Ramza identified as…

"Louise, why is there an Evil Eye in the classroom?" Ramza asked, unconsciously reaching for a blade that wasn't there.

"That's a bugbear."

"And that Marlboro?"

"That's a Skua." Louise explained as she sat down, Ramza quickly sitting next to her, drawing curious looks from several students that he ignored. The door opened, and the teacher entered.

She was a middle-aged woman dressed in a voluminous purple robe and wearing a hat. She had a plump, round face with a friendly expression on it. The woman gazed around the classroom and spoke with a satisfied smile.

"Well, everyone, it seems that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I, Chevreuse, always enjoy seeing the new familiars that are summoned each spring."

Louise cast her eyes downward.

"My, my. You've summoned quite a... handesome familiar, Miss Vallière," she remarked as she looked at Ramza. The comment was fairly innocent, but the classroom exploded with laughter.

"Louise the Zero! Don't go around grabbing random people off the street just because you can't summon anything!"

Louise's long blonde hair billowed as she stood up. She raised her cute voice in anger.

"No! I did everything properly! He was all that appeared!"

"Don't lie! I bet you couldn't even cast 'Summon Servant' properly, right?"

The other students chuckled.

"Mrs. Chevreuse! I've been insulted! Malicorne the 'Common Cold' just insulted me!"

Louise banged her fist against the tabletop in protest.

"Common cold? I'm Malicorne the Windward! I haven't caught any cold!"

"Well, your hoarse voice-"

"Louise! It is unbecoming of a noblewoman of any stature to engage in mudslinging with a classmate!" Ramza barked, earning himself surprised looks from the people gathered in the classroom, particularly his precocious summoner, who seemed too chocked to speak.

"U-um exactly," Mrs. Chevreuse said, backing him up lamely. "Anyways, let us begin the lesson now."

Chevreuse coughed heavily and waved her wand. A few pebbles materialized on her desktop.

"My Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay. This year, I will be teaching you all the magic of the Earth element. Do you know the four great elements of magic, Mister Malicorne?"

"Y-Yes, Mrs. Chevreuse. They are Fire, Water, Earth and Wind."

Chevreuse nodded.

"And combined with the now-lost element of 'Void,' there are five elements in total - as everyone should already know. Of the five elements, I believe Earth holds an extremely important position. This isn't just because my affinity is Earth, nor is it simply a personal preference."

Once again, Chevreuse coughed heavily.

"The magic of Earth is very important magic that governs the creation of all matter. If it wasn't for Earth magic, we wouldn't be able to produce or process necessary metals. Raising buildings from large boulders and harvesting crops would also involve much more work. In this manner, the magic of the Earth element is intimately related to everyone's life.

"Now, everyone, please recall that the basic magic of the Earth element is 'transmutation'. While there will be people here who have already learned this in their first year, basics build foundations, so let's review it once more."

Chevreuse turned her attention to the pebbles and twirled her wand over them. She then whispered a spell, and they began to glow brightly. When the light dimmed away, the pebbles had been changed into sparkling lumps of metal.

"Is that g-g-gold, Mrs. Chevreuse!?"

Kirche leaned forward over her desk.

"No, it isn't. It's plain brass. Only Square-class mages are able to transmute to gold. I'm just..." Chevreuse gave a self-important cough. "A Triangle mage..."

_Square? Triangle? What is she talking about?_ Ramza wondered, resolving to ask Louise about it later.

"Miss Vallière, would you like to demonstrate for me?"

"Eh? Me?"

"Yes. Try changing these pebbles here into a metal of your choice."

Louise didn't stand up. She simply sat there looking troubled and fidgety.

"It's alright Louise, try it." Ramza encouraged her gently.

"Miss Vallière! Is something the matter?"

Mrs. Chevreuse called for her again, but Kirche raised her voice in concern.

"Umm..."

"Yes?"

"I think it would be better if you didn't let her..."

"And why is that?"

"It's dangerous," Kirche answered plainly. The majority of the class nodded in agreement.

"Dangerous? How so?"

"This is your first time teaching Louise, right?"

"It is, but I hear she's a hard worker. Now, Miss Vallière. Don't you worry, just try it. You won't be able to do anything if you dread making mistakes."

"Don't, Louise!" Kirche cried, her face pale.

But Louise stood up.

"I'll do it."

With a nervous expression, she walked briskly up to the front of the room.

Chevreuse stood next to Louise and smiled.

"Miss Vallière, you have to visualize vividly the metal that you wish to transmute them into."

Giving a cute little nod, Louise waved her wand. She had never looked as adorable as in that instant when she pursed her lips to begin chanting the incantation - it was almost otherworldly. Ramza felt his heart throb briefly.

In the morning sunshine streaming in from the window, Louise's strawberry-blonde hair sparkled enchantingly. Her hazel eye shown like jewels, and her skin was a flawless white. Her sculpted nose was befitting of nobility.

_She really is adorable._ Ramza thought to himself again. But as he sat there pondering, the students sitting in front of him had for some reason hidden under their chairs. _Why are they hiding?_

Closing her eyes, Louise uttered a short rune and flourished her wand.

The pebbles on the desk promptly exploded.

Louise and Chevreuse caught the blast full-on and were thrown against the blackboard, as people screamed. Frightened familiars added to the chaos. Kirche's salamander suddenly woke from its sleep and stood up on its hind legs, breathing a jet of flame. A manticore burst into flight and smashed through a window to escape. Through the hole, the giant snake that had been peeking in earlier slithered in and swallowed someone's raven.

The classroom was in pandemonium.

Kirche stood up and pointed a finger at Louise.

"That's why I told you not to let her do it!"

"Jeez, Vallière! Save us some grief and just quit school already!"

"My Lucky got eaten by a snake! Lucky!"

Ramza blinked in surprise, having automatically used Louise's empty chair as an impromptu shield.

Mrs. Chevreuse lay on the floor; judging by her occasional twitching, she wasn't dead.

A soot-blackened Louise rose slowly. She was a miserable sight to behold. Her torn blouse revealed a slender shoulder, and her panties could be seen beneath her ripped skirt.

Still, what an amazing girl. She didn't seem at all fazed by the discord in the room. She pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the soot off her face.

"Looks like I messed up a little..." she said, in a weak voice.

Of course, that elicited a vehement response from the other students.

"That wasn't 'a little!', Louise the Zero!"

"Your success rate is always ZERO!"

Ramza found himself feeling sorry for Louise.


	4. Chapter 3

_I have officially decided on some key elements of Zero no Itan-sha. Instead of the Staff of Destruction Ramza will be getting a more permanent addition to his arsenal and the Zero fighter will be replaced by a different manner of artillery entirely, also, Siesta will not have a Japanese great-grandfather, she will have an Ivalician __**grandmother,**__ further details will be explained in-story._

**Chapter 3: Exposed pt2**

Mister Colbert, a teacher who had dedicated twenty years to Tristain Magic Academy, was by now a mainstay figure.

His Runic name was "Colbert the Flame Snake," and, naturally, he was a mage specializing in fire magic.

Since the Springtime Familiar Summoning a few days ago, he'd been concerned about the commoner boy that Louise had summoned. Or more precisely, he'd been concerned with nothing but the runes that had appeared on that boy's left hand. They were rare runes indeed, so for the last few nights, he'd confined himself to the library and had been researching various texts.

Tristain Magic Academy's library was located in the same tower as the dining hall. The bookshelves were unbelievably tall, about thirty mails in height, and the way they were lined up against the walls was a spectacle to behold, and rightly so, since this place was crammed with the history of everything following the creation of the new world in Halkeginia by the Founder Brimir.

Colbert was now in a section called "Fenrir's Library" that only teachers were allowed entry to.

The ordinary bookshelves, to which students had free access, didn't hold any answers that could satisfy him.

He Levitated up to an out-of-reach shelf and scanned it intently for a particular book. His efforts were rewarded as his gaze fell upon the title of the book. It was a very old text which held descriptions of the familiars that had been used by the Founder Brimir.

His attention was focused on one particular paragraph written in it, and as he read on in fascination, his eyes grew wide. He compared the book with the sketch he'd made of the runes on the boy's left hand.

"Ah!" he gasped in surprise. At that moment, he lost the concentration necessary for maintaining his Levitation and almost fell to the floor.

Holding the book in his arms, he hurriedly descended to the floor and ran out of the library.

His destination was the Headmaster's Office.

Scene break

The Headmaster's Office was located on the topmost floor of the tower. Sir Osmond, the current Headmaster of Tristain Magic Academy, was sitting with his elbows propped on his elegantly built sequoia desk, looking unbearably bored as he shook his white beard and hair.

Idly plucking out nose hairs, he slowly murmured "hrm" and pulled open a desk drawer. From inside he procured a smoking pipe. Miss Longueville, the secretary who had been writing something at the other desk placed to the side of the room, waved her feather quill.

The pipe floated into the air and landed in Miss Longueville's palm. Sir Osmond muttered dejectedly, "Is it fun taking away an old man's little pleasures? Miss, um..."

"Managing your health is also part of my job, Old Osmond."

Sir Osmond stood up from his chair and walked up to the cool and collected Miss Longueville. Stopping behind the seated lady, he closed his eyes, his expression grave.

"If the days keep passing by so peacefully, figuring out how to spend time is going to become a rather big problem."

The wrinkles etched deeply on Osmond's face were only hints to the history of his life. People guessed him to be a hundred years old, even three hundred. But his true age no one really knew. It's possible he himself didn't remember anymore either.

"Old Osmond," Miss Longueville spoke up without taking her eyes off the feather quill that was scribbling away on the parchment.

"What is it? Miss..."

"Please stop saying you have nothing to do as an excuse to touch my bottom."

Sir Osmond opened his mouth slightly and began walking around in tottering steps.

"Please also refrain from pretending to be senile whenever a situation goes bad," Longueville added calmly. Sir Osmond sighed deeply. It was the sigh of a man bearing the weight of many troubles.

"Where do you think the ultimate truth may be? Haven't you ever wondered that? Miss..."

"Wherever it is, I assure you, it's not underneath my skirt, so please stop sneaking your mouse under the desk."

Sir Osmond's face fell, and he murmured sadly, "Mótsognir."

From under Miss Longueville's desk scurried out a little mouse. It dashed up Osmond's leg and perched on his shoulder, twitching its tiny head. He fished out some nuts from a pocket and held one out to the mouse.

"Chuchu," the mouse chittered, apparently pleased.

"You're my only truly trustworthy friend, Mótsognir."

The mouse began nibbling on the nut. It disappeared quickly, and the mouse chittered "chuchu" once more.

"Ah, yes, yes. You want more? Very well, I shall give you more. But first, I would ask that you report back, Mótsognir."

"Chuchu"

"I see. White and plain white too, hrm. But Miss Longueville should really stick to black. Wouldn't you agree, my cute Mótsognir?"

Miss Longueville's eyebrows twitched.

"Old Osmond."

"What is it?"

"The next time you do that, I'm reporting it to the palace."

"Kah! Do you think I could be Headmaster of this Academy if I was scared of the palace all the time?!"

Sir Osmond flashed his eyes wide and yelled angrily. It was an impressive display, completely unexpected of a frail-looking old man.

"Don't get all prissy just because I peeked at your underwear! At this rate, you'll never get married! Haa~~ To be young again~~ Miss..."

Old Osmond began stroking Miss Longueville's bottom without hesitation.

Miss Longueville stood up and wordlessly kicked her boss around.

"Sorry. Stop. Ow. I won't do it anymore. Really."

Old Osmond covered his head and cowered. Miss Longueville breathed heavily as she continued kicking Osmond.

"Ack! How can you! Treat a senior! In this way! Hey! Ouch!"

This "peaceful" moment was interrupted by a sudden intrusion.

The door was thrown open with a slam, and Colbert rushed inside.

"Old Osmond!"

"What is it?"

Miss Longueville was back at her desk, sitting there as if nothing had happened. Sir Osmond had his arms behind him, and turned to face the visitor with a serious expression. That was certainly a quick recovery.

"I-I-I have some big news!"

"There is no such thing as big news. Everything is but a collection of small events."

"P-P-Please take a look at this!"

Colbert handed Osmond the book he had been reading just before.

"This is "The Familiars of the Founder Brimir," is it not? Are you still going around digging up old literature like this? If you have time to do that, why don't you think up some better ways of collecting school fees from those slack nobles? Mister, err... What was it again?"

Sir Osmond cocked his head.

"It's Colbert! You forgot?!"

"Right, right. Now I remember. It's just that you talked so fast I never really caught it. So, Colby, what is it about this book?"

"Please take a look at this also!"

Colbert then handed him the sketch of the runes on Ramza's left hand.

The moment he saw that, Osmond's expression changed. His eyes took on a solemn light.

"Miss Longueville, would you please excuse us?"

Miss Longueville stood up and left the room. Osmond spoke only after he confirmed she was properly outside.

"Explain this to me with every detail, Mister Colbert…"

Scene break

It was just before lunchtime when they finally finished tidying up the classroom that Louise had made a mess of. As punishment, using magic to clean up had been forbidden, so it had taken considerable time to finish. But then again, Louise couldn't really use most spells anyway, so it hadn't affected her much. Mrs. Chevreuse had regained consciousness two hours after she'd been caught in the explosion, and while she did return to class, she didn't give any more lectures on Transmutation for that entire day. It would seem she had been rather traumatized.

Having finished tidying up, Louise and Ramza headed to the dining hall for lunch. Along the way Ramza smiled brightly and tried to cheer Louise up with a few stories he had heard as a mercenary. Another in his position might have tormented and teased the poor girl but Ramza was nothing if not a good brother, and Louise was so adorable that he couldn't help but think of her as a little sister, even if she _had_ made him do all of the work, and Flame had been pestering him the entire time for a treat, apparently having fallen in love with the taste of Ramza's Will-o'-Wisp.

Scene break

When they arrived at the dining hall, Ramza pulled out a chair for Louise.

"Just remember, Milady. Don't cast any spells on the food. Just imagine the mess if it exploded." He teased gently, putting in the one jab before he turned to leave. "If Milady does not mind, I will be outside in the hall." Ramza finished, walking away before Louise could reply to him.

Approximately five feet out the door of the dining hall Ramza's stomach grumbled loudly, spooking him as he looked to see where the angry lioness' growl had come from before he blushed at the realization that it was his own stomach.

_I should have eaten something after all,_ Ramza thought to himself.

Clutching his stomach, he leaned one hand on a wall.

"Is something the matter?"

He turned around to see a normal-looking girl in a maid's outfit carrying a big silver tray, looking concernedly at him. Her black hair was neatly adorned with a headband, and her freckles were cute.

"It is nothing..." Ramza waved his left hand.

"Are you by any chance the one who became Miss Vallière's familiar...?"

It seemed she noticed the runes inscribed on Ramza's left hand.

"You know me?"

"A little. It's become quite a rumor, you know, that a handsome person was called by the summoning magic."

The girl smiled sweetly. It was the first carefree smile Ramza had seen since he came to this world.

"Are you a mage as well?" Ramza asked.

"Oh no, not me, I'm just a commoner. I serve the nobility here by doing domestic duties."

_I'm actually from Gallione in Ivalice, but it's probably useless to try explain._ Ramza decided to just introduce himself.

"I see... Well, I'm Ramza Beoulve, and magick has nothing to do with station."

"What do you mean? Everyone knows that commoners cannot perform magic." The maid explained, confusing Ramza as much as he had confused her before she decided to ignore what he said for the moment. "Either way, I am Siesta, it is nice to meet you."

At that point, Ramza's stomach grumbled.

"You must be hungry."

"Just a little..."

"Please follow me this way."

Siesta walked off.

Scene break

Ramza was led to the kitchen located at the rear of the dining hall. Lots of large pots and ovens were lined up inside. Cooks and other maids like Siesta were busily preparing food.

"Please wait one moment, okay?"

Siesta had Ramza sit on a chair placed in the corner of the kitchen and disappeared hastily into the back.

She soon returned with a bowl full of warm stew in her hands.

"This is some stew made from the leftovers of the nobles' meals. If you don't mind, please eat this."

"You do not mind?"

"Yes. It's only the staff meal though..."

Her kindness was touching, and so he gracefully scooped up a spoonful and brought it to his mouth, his eyes widening in shock at the taste.

_Amazing…_ Ramza thought, the taste momentarily overwhelming him.

"This tastes delicious!"

"That's great. There's plenty if you want seconds, so take your time."

Ramza ate the stew slowly, as though to savor it. Siesta stood watching him, smiling sweetly all the while.

"Weren't you given anything to eat?"

"I walked out of there before anyone could offer me anything." Ramza admitted sheepishly.

"Oh no! You need to take care of yourself!" Siesta scolded him softly.

"It really doesn't matter; I've had to survive on less as a mercenary." Ramza confessed.

Siesta looked at Ramza with an expression of surprise.

Ramza gave Siesta back the empty bowl.

"That truly was delicious, thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it. Feel free to visit whenever you're hungry. If you don't mind having whatever we're having, I'd be happy to share."

Ramza smiled brightly at the girl's kind offer.

"Um, if there's anything I can do for you, just tell me. I will lend a hand."

He wasn't particularly interested in something like washing Louise's underwear, and would much rather help this girl instead.

"In that case, please help me serve the desserts."

Siesta said with a smile.

"Alright," Ramza nodded enthusiastically.

Scene break

Lots of dessert cakes were arranged on a big silver tray. Ramza carried the tray, while Siesta picked up the cakes with tongs and served them one by one to the nobles.

One mage in particular stood out. He had curly blonde hair, wore a frill-trimmed shirt, and looked rather self-important. There was a rose stuck in his shirt pocket too. His friends around him were poking all kinds of fun at him.

"So, Guiche! Who're you going out with now?"

"Who's your lover, Guiche?"

So it seemed the prideful mage was called Guiche. He gently raised a finger to his lips.

"'Go out?' I hold no one woman in such special regard. After all, a rose blooms for the pleasure of many."

_What a narcissist..._ Ramza thought coldly, he was the kind of narcissist that made onlookers more embarrassed than himself. Totally unbecoming behavior of nobility, Ramza concluded, reminded all too painfully of Argath and Fort Ziekden.

At that moment, a purple bottle of perfume fell out of Guiche's pocket.

"Ser, you dropped something." Ramza called out, trying to warn him.

But Guiche didn't turn around. _Is he ignoring me?_

Ramza passed the tray to Siesta and bent down to pick up the bottle.

"Ser, you dropped this." He placed it on the table. Guiche shot Ramza a dirty look, and pushed the bottle away.

"This is not mine. What are you talking about?"

Guiche's friends then realized where the bottle came from and raised a loud commotion.

"Ooh? That perfume, isn't that Montmorency's?"

"Yeah! That vivid purple color is the perfume that Montmorency only mixes for herself!"

"So to have something like that fall out of your pocket, Guiche, means that you're going out with Montmorency now, right?"

"No wait, listen to me. I'm saying this for the sake of her reputation, but..."

As Guiche was about to say more, a girl, who wore a brown cloak and had been sitting at the table behind them, stood up and walked over to Guiche's seat.

She was a cute girl sporting chestnut-colored hair. According to the color of the cloak she wore, she was a first year student.

"Guiche-sama..."

And with that, she started crying uncontrollably.

"I knew it, you and Miss Montmorency are..."

"They're misunderstanding. Katie, listen. The only person I hold in my heart is you..."

But the girl called Katie slapped Guiche's face as hard as she could.

"That perfume you dropped from your pocket is more than enough proof! Goodbye!"

Guiche rubbed his cheek.

At this point, a girl with tightly rolled hair stood up from a seat further down the table. Wearing a severe expression, she approached Guiche with quick clipped steps.

"Montmorency. This is a misunderstanding. All I did was accompany her on a long trip to the forests of La Rochelle..." Guiche said, shaking his head. While he was pretending to remain composed, a drop of cold sweat ran down his forehead.

"Just as I thought! You've been making moves on that first year, haven't you?!"

"Please, Montmorency the Fragrance. Don't twist your rose-like face in anger like that. It saddens me to see it!"

Montmorency grabbed a bottle of wine that was on the table and poured its contents out audibly on Guiche's head.

And then...

"You liar!"

She yelled and stormed off.

Silence fell upon the hall.

Guiche pulled out a handkerchief and slowly wiped his face. Shaking his head, he spoke dramatically.

"It would seem those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence."

Ramza gave the boy points for attempting a recovery at least…

He felt a migraine coming on with a sigh as he took the tray back from Siesta and began walking off.

Guiche called him to a stop.

"Stop right there."

"What now?"

Guiche spun his body about on the chair and crossed his legs with a flourish. It gave Ramza a headache to see such arrogance exude from every action.

"Thanks to you thoughtlessly picking up some bottle of perfume, the reputation of two ladies has been damaged. How will you take responsibility?"

Ramza replied in an exasperated tone.

"Perhaps if you had not cheated on them Ser, but instead had been honest and only dated one this whole incident could have been avoided?"

Guiche's friends burst out laughing.

"Exactly, Guiche! It's your fault!"

Guiche's face flushed crimson.

"Listen, server. When you put the bottle of perfume on the table, I pretended not to know anything, didn't I? Would it have hurt to be a little bit tactful and just go along with it?"

"Whatever. Either way, your two-timing would've been blown anyway. And also, I'm not a server."

"Hmph... Ah, you are..."

Guiche snorted, as if looking down on Ramza.

"You must be the commoner summoned by that "Louise the Zero." To have expected a noble's wits from a commoner was completely my mistake. You may leave."

Ramza snapped then. Pretty boy or not, there was no way Ramza was just going to stand there quietly taking all this from such a conceited narcissist. He couldn't help what he did next.

He struck Guiche with his right hand, his gauntlet removed for the blow to be officially sanctioned as a challenge.

"I hereby challenge you to a duel Guiche, as the challenged, you have choice of weapons and location." Ramza said coldly, his anger flaring brightly.

Guiche's eyes narrowed.

"It would seem that you at least know the proper etiquette for addressing a challenge."

"It is not my first time dealing with your lot."

"Very well, then I shall teach you a lesson about respect, a perfect way to relieve some stress."

Guiche stood up.

"How amusing."

Ramza bared his teeth and growled. _Just keep talking you lowborn trash._

Guiche turned in the other direction.

"Are you running away?"

"Don't be stupid. I can't taint the dining table of nobles with the blood of a commoner, can I? I'll be waiting at Vestri Court. Come once you're finished delivering those cakes."

Looking excited, Guiche's friends stood up and followed him off.

One person remained though, as if to make sure Ramza didn't run away himself.

Siesta gazed at Ramza, her entire body quivering. Ramza spoke with a grin.

"It's all right. There's no way I'll lose to that weakling."

"You... You're going to get killed."

"What?"

"If you truly anger a noble..."

Siesta dashed off in a hurry.

_But he's just a mage isn't he?_ Ramza thought to himself in confusion.

Louise ran up to him from behind.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?! I saw all that!"

"Hello milady."

"This is no time to be subservient! How can you just go challenging people to duels like it's no big deal?!"

"I just wanted to teach him a lesson Louise..."

Ramza said indignantly.

Louise sighed and shrugged disappointedly.

"Apologize to him."

"Why?"

"If you don't want to be hurt, go and apologize. If you do it now, he might forgive you."

"I have no reason to apologize to a fop that cheats on a woman."

"Just do it."

Louise fixed Ramza with a firm look.

"No way."

"So stubborn... But you know what? You can't win. You'll be badly injured. Actually, you'll be lucky to come back alive with just injuries."

"I won't know that unless I try, right?"

"How do you plan to beat a mage?!"

"So where's this Vestri Court?"

Ramza walked off. The friend of Guiche's that had been watching Louise and Ramza's exchange pointed with his chin.

"This way, commoner."

"Aaah, jeez! Really! Why does this familiar keep going off and doing stuff on its own?!"

With that, Louise chased after Ramza.

Scene break

Vestri Court was the central garden situated between the Wind and Fire elemental towers. Being located to the west, the Court didn't receive much sunshine, even in the middle of the day, but it was the perfect place for a duel.

Right now... the place was packed with people who had heard the rumors.

"Gentlemen! It's a duel!"

Guiche lifted his artificial rose high, eliciting a loud cheer from the crowd.

"Guiche is going to duel! His opponent is Louise's familiar!"

_Maybe I should start making sure people actually get my name…_ Ramza thought to himself.

Waving his arms about, Guiche acknowledged the cheering.

And then, as if finally noticing Ramza's presence there, he turned to face him.

Ramza and Guiche stood in the middle of the Court, glaring intently at each other.

"First of all, I commend you for coming here instead of running away!" Guiche remarked in a sing-song voice, as he twirled his rose.

"Like anyone would run away!"

"Right then, let us begin," said Guiche.

_Just keep talking greenhorn._ Ramza though darkly, crouching for a leap.

_It's roughly ten paces to where Guiche is, I don't care what type of magick he uses, I can get there first with an aurablast if I need to._

Guiche watched Ramza with a leisurely smile and flicked his rose.

A petal floated down as if dancing in the air...

And became the armor-clad shape of a female warrior.

Its height was about the same as a person's, but it appeared to be constructed from some hard metal. Under the pale sunlight, its skin... its armor gleamed.

It stood stoically in Ramza's way.

"Never seen one of those before…"

"I am a mage, therefore I fight using magic. Surely you have no complaints?"

"No, I have none."

"I guess I forgot to mention earlier. My Runic name is "the Bronze." Guiche the Bronze. Accordingly, my bronze golem "Valkyrie" shall be your real opponent."

"Whatever."

The warrior-shaped golem charged towards Ramza.

Its right fist impacted heavily with Ramza's stomach.

"Ow?"

Ramza smiled a bit darkly as the blow activated Dragonheart, causing several reptilian familiars to stare at him as though affected by a charm technique.

"Weak." Was all Ramza said as he punched the Valkyrie in the chest, its entire body rupturing as he used Rend Armor, however as a consequence his left fist completely shattered.

_This is why that move requires a sword you idiot!_ Ramza chided himself as he winced, blood dripping from his hand.

From the mass of people, Louise burst out and saw what happened.

"Eh?"

Scene break

Let us change locations for a moment and return to the Headmaster's Office.

Mister Colbert was fervently explaining everything to Sir Osmond about the commoner boy that was summoned by Louise at the Springtime Familiar Summoning... About how he was concerned about the runes that had appeared on the boy's hand as proof of the contract between him and Louise... And that when he had gone to find out more...

"You reached the Founder Brimir's familiar Gandálfr?"

Osmond intently examined Colbert's sketch of the runes on Ramza's left hand.

"Yes! The runes that appeared on that boy's left hand are exactly the same as the runes that were inscribed on the legendary familiar Gandálfr!"

"So, your conclusion?"

"That boy is Gandálfr! If this isn't big news, then what is, Old Osmond?"

Colbert stood up as he wiped his balding head with a handkerchief.

"Hrm... Certainly, the runes are the same. But for a foreign boy of unknown origins to become Gandálfr just by having the same runes... I wonder how that could've happened."

"What shall we do?"

"However, it is probably too early to be making definite claims."

"That's true."

Sir Osmond drummed his fingers on the desk.

There was a knock on the door.

"Who is it?"

From behind the door came Miss Longueville's voice.

"It's me, Old Osmond."

"What is it?"

"It seems there are some students dueling at Vestri Courts. It's causing quite a commotion. A few teachers have gone there to try and stop it, but their attempts are being impeded by the sheer number of students."

"For heaven's sake, there's nothing worse than nobles with too much free time in their hands. So, who's involved?"

"One of them is Guiche de Gramont."

"Ah, that idiot son of Gramont. Skirt-chasing must run in the family, considering his father's even more of a womanizer. I wouldn't be surprised if the boy knows every girl in school. And his opponent is?"

"...Well, it's not a mage. I've been told it's Miss Vallière's familiar."

Osmond and Colbert exchanged a look.

"The teachers are requesting to use the "Bell of Sleep" to stop the duel."

Osmond's eyes glinted like a hawk's.

"Ridiculous. There's no need to use such an important artifact just to stop a children's fight. Leave them be."

"Understood."

Miss Longueville's footsteps disappeared down the hallway.

Colbert swallowed audibly and verbally pressed Osmond.

"Old Osmond."

"Hrm."

Sir Osmond waved his staff and a big mirror set in the wall began scrying the situation at Vestri Courts.

Scene break

Guiche began to panic and waved his rose wand wildly. Petals danced, and six new golems appeared.

Altogether, seven golems were Guiche's full arsenal. Never had he thought that a mere commoner could be a match for even one.

The golems surrounded Ramza and sprang at him all at once.

And just when it looked like they had him, and then one became trapped in vines as Ramza backpedalled away from the other five while chanting…

"**Smoldering flames far below, punish the wicked! Firaja!"**

The effect was instantaneous, before anyone could blink a sphere of fire surrounded the five Valkyries, when it cleared all that was left was scrap metal. Taking advantage of the momentary pause Ramza dashed forward, his right fist bared for a blow to Guiche's face as the young mage panicked and conjured up a sword, only for Ramza to strike first, punching him solidly in the face and sending him flying several yards.

"Do you yield?" Ramza asked after Guiche hit the ground.

"I yield! I yield!" Guiche screamed frantically.

Ramza smiled and chuckled, walking away and towards Louise, still surrounded by the halo of Dragonheart.

Louise looked thoroughly relieved as she let out a sigh.

Guiche stood up and shook his head in amazement.

"Louise, just what is this guy? All of my Valkyries were so easily defeated..."

"I said it the day I was summoned; I am Ramza Beoulve, third son of Gallione's noble Beoulve household." Ramza answered over his shoulder, his off-hand reply and the import of what it meant causing everyone present to stop and stare at him as he confirmed one of the biggest questions about himself.

"_**EEEHHHHHH?!"**_

_Okay, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist that ending. Anyways, please leave reviews and let me know what you all thought. On another note, this is without a doubt the longest document I have ever written in my entire life, ignoring the fact that it's already four chapters long, whch is a personal record since I usually only make one-shots at best._


	5. Chapter 4

_Guest C __12/31/12 . chapter 4_

_-Ramza telling stories to make Louise feel better might have gone differently if he told her about the good times he's had as a noble since he should know first hand how nobles don't really care about commoner's idea of good times._

_A: Ramza was telling her funny stories from his time as a mercenary, not what he did, and funny stories are usually universal._

-I don't think Ramza would have teased Louise the way he did in such a public place after witnessing her spectacular failure. He would have realized how the other students would have mercilessly mocked her causing her to go punish the 'dog' in her anger.

_A: He was pretty light-hearted with his tone, although now that you've said something I guess that was pretty cruel of him . No wonder he ran out before Louise could say anything._

-Black hair is a rarity even in Ivalice so I'm wondering who could be Siesta's grandmother. Hopefully you won't have it so that the ancestor has some kind of power that would set her apart from the other commoners (like magic) and still have things play out canon-wise for the girl.

_A:Urk! Um, no, Siesta's grandmother is just supposed to be someone Ramza knew from Ivalice, but Siesta didn't inherit any skills from her._

-I'd also think that his comment on magick having nothing to do with station would have earned a bigger response from Siesta as well. Unless your plans for her past/ancestry has something to do with it.

_A: She didn't have too big a reaction because she didn't believe him._

-I wonder where Ramza's air of nobility went as well.

_A: Oh, it's still there, but you need to remember this is mostly Ramza's perspective, and he wouldn't exactly notice what type of aura he's giving off._

-It also seems like Louise forgot he can use magic. Oh and about wandless magic... that's going to stir up trouble like no one would believe. Mages are incapable of using magic without wands so this perceived commoner being able to not only use magic but without a wand as well? Hopefully these things get addressed and aren't ignored so that we can get canon events just with another character.

_A: She didn't forget she just wasn't expecting the scale of the spell; Firaja is equivalent to a Square-level spell after all. _

**Chapter 4: Aftermath and beyond**_  
_

There were three people sitting in the Headmaster's office of Tristain Magic Academy. One person, probably the headmaster himself, was an old man whose physical description could be summoned up in one word: Gandalf. This man was Osmond, aka "Old Osmond" and he was the man who ran the Academy.

Across from Old Osmond were two people, one a strawberry blonde girl of sixteen that looked a bit younger than she really was, and the other was a regal golden haired boy that could only be described as leonine, a prince with the weight of what seemed to be many years of hardship weighing down his body.

"So," Old Osmond began, stroking his beard as a brown mouse chewed on some nuts on his desk, "you're telling me that not only are you nobility, but your home, 'Ivalice' was it? Is not located on any of our maps?"

"That is correct Ser," Ramza, the princely boy began, "I have checked several maps that Louise supplied my with the first day, the continents here are completely different and your magick is rather different from my own in several ways. The only conclusion I can draw is that either I'm on the other side of the world or when Ultima destroyed the Airship I was on I was somehow pulled into a different one, yours, by Ms. Louise's summoning spell."

The girl at Ramza's right side, Louise, was silent during this entire exchange, the implications of what she had seen racing through her mind as she continuously snuck glances out the corner of her eye at the man she had summoned as her familiar.

"Ultima, who and what is that?" Old Osmond asked with a cocked eyebrow. In response to his question Ramza briefly glanced at Louise, who in return looked away from him with a blush.

"In order for me to give you that information, I would like to request that Louise be sent back to her class, she doesn't need to hear this." Ramza asked, only for Louise to look at him indignantly.

"Now wait just a minute! The familiar's troubles are its master's troubles, and a mage that abandons her familiar to trouble is not a mage!" Louise retorted, indignant.

"Louise, this is something very personal for me, and it is also something that I would rather you never had to find out." Ramza stated, looking directly into Louise's eyes with the most pained look he could manage, and the result was something that could have melted a glacier, he was blatantly telling her that he was keeping secrets and that they were probably something of a dangerous nature, yet he was still trying to get her to leave him behind!

Just as Louise began to open her voice to protest Ms. Longueville came in and gently led the girl out of the room before she could say anything. "Just listen in." She told the girl, motioning for her to press her ear on the door .

«Ramza»

After Louise was led out of the room by Osmond's green-haired secretary Ramza gave a slight sigh of relief, turning to face the headmaster directly.

"Headmaster, what I am about to say can never leave this room, I am only telling you this because it pertains to why I haven't been trying to leave Tristain and why I do not want anyone to discover my existence outside of being Louise's familiar."

"Oh?" Was the only response the old man gave.

"Headmaster, to be frank, I am a Heretic under the Church of Glabados. While initially this charge was not false I sincerely doubt there can be any other term for me now since as of the time I was summoned by Louise I performed an act of Deicide."

"_What?!"_ Old Osmond gasped in surprise, the revelation catching him off guard.

"To be more accurate, I killed a powerful entity called a Lucavi, a type of demon tied into the Zodiac of Ivalice's lore, that was controlled by the soul of Saint Ajora, the founder of the Church of Glabados," Ramza continued, "The Church branded me as a heretic some months back and I was forced to slay my two elder brothers in an attempt to rescue my sister. Currently Alma, my younger sister, is the only member of my House that does not have anything to do with the events that left me in this situation so I would like to minimize attempts to contact her or to return home in order to keep her from being used as leverage against me."

"In other words you want to drop out of public eye until things simmer down?"

"Yes Ser."

At this point, Old Osmond cracked a grin that was hidden by his beard, "Well that can be arranged!"

«Louise»

Listening in from behinds the door Louise couldn't believe her ears, Ramza was a Heretic, a criminal that not only killed his two brothers but had slain the founder of his religion? She couldn't believe it, nor could she reconcile that image with the man she had seen over the last few days, the same man who would sit by her and sing songs until she fell asleep, the same man who woke her up every morning with a gentle whisper, with the personality of someone who would murder two siblings in cold blood.

As Louise stood there pondering what to make of the situation, the door opened, and Ramza stepped out, when she looked up, all she could see was his muscled chest for a moment before she realized that it was him.

"Ah! R-r-Ramza!" Louise exclaimed, catching sight of the trapped look on his face.

"Louise, how long were you listening in?" Ramza asked, still maintaining that pained look.

"Listening in to what?" She asked nervously, trying to avoid looking Ramza in the eyes.

"Louise…" Ramza began, only for her to cut him off.

"Let's just go!" She exclaimed, grabbing Ramza by his wrist and dragging him off.

'_I'll just ask him about it later.'_ Louise decided, not wanting to put any pressure on Ramza, a desire which conflicted with her desire to know more about him.

*scene break*

It had been a week since Ramza started his life as Louise's familiar at Tristain Magic Academy. If one were to explain an average day for Ramza, it would read like the following:

First, like the majority of animals and humans in Tristain, he woke up in the morning. His bed was, as usual, a chair, though compared to the first day it had mostly improved. After Ramza had acquired a large enough blanket he found that sleeping on the chair enabled him to react to strange happenings much easier, and the part of him that was used to being on the run was very grateful for that.

Next Ramza would walk over to Louise and gently whisper in her ear until she got up, smiling warmly as she looked up at him cutely while still half asleep. After Louise wakes up Ramza would hand Louise her clothes and step outside the room, waiting for her to get dressed.

Once Louise was dressed Ramza would go down and retrieve a bucket of water for her to use to wash her face and blush her teeth, taking the time to do so for himself while he was still at the pump.

Smiling softly as Louise sleepily washed her face Ramza could only smile and compliment her.

"Louise, you are the epitome of beauty this day."

Due to low blood pressure, Louise could only manage a sleepy reply.

"Thank you…."

After Ramza revealed that he was actually nobility they had somehow slipped into a first name basis.

After seeing that Louise was ready Ramza would smile and lead her to the dining hall for breakfast, where he would stand behind her and to the left as she ate.

Ramza rarely ate anything.

After breakfast, Ramza cleaned Louise's room. This involved sweeping the floor with a broom and wiping the table and windows with a cloth.

And then there was the oh-so-enjoyable laundry. He took the laundry down to the fountain and scrubbed it clean against a washboard. There was no warm water, only icy cold water that bit fiercely at his fingers. Louise's underwear were all expensive looking pieces with lots of lace and frills attached. Ramza couldn't help but wonder who the girl was trying to impress.

*scene break*

After escorting Louise to her class Ramza would hum to himself as he walked to the kitchens. The first two days after his status as nobility was revealed the head chef, a well-rounded man in his forties, Marteau, had been hostile to Ramza when he showed up, despite allowing him to help out around the kitchens, however, after finding out that Ramza had been born in a slum district and had spent the last three years as a mercenary he gradually warmed up to the boy, after all, it was hard to hate a good cook.

Another side effect of always visiting the kitchens was that Siesta, the maid Ramza had met before, had slowly grown attached to him, for his stories of his homeland were remarkably similar to the ones she had heard from her grandmother growing up, right down to the punchline.

Although that particular day... there was a crimson shadow spying on Saito from a window of the kitchen. One of the young cooks took notice of it.

"Hey, there's something outside the window."

The shadow gave a garbled 'kyuru kyuru' and slinked away.

*scene break*

After helping out in the kitchens Ramza would head out into the courtyard, where he would find himself instantly buried under piles of reptilian familiars. This particular day however Ramza found himself getting grabbed by a large blue dragon.

"Sylphid! Put me down!" Ramza exclaimed as the wind dragon carried him off like some sort of prize, only to drop him then coil up around him, her wing covering him like he was some sort of teddy bear. With a sigh of long-suffering resignation Ramza closed him eyes, the warmth of the dragon next to him lulling him to sleep.

*scene break*

And while Ramza was being molested by a dragon…

At the Headmaster's Office, Miss Longueville the secretary was busily writing away at something.

She stopped writing for a moment and glanced over at the sequoia desk at which Sir Osmond was busy taking a nap.

The corner of Miss Longueville's lips rose in a faint smirk, an expression she had never shown anyone before.

She stood up from her desk.

In a low voice, she murmured the incantation for a Spell of Tranquility. Dampening her footsteps so as not to wake Osmond, she crept out of the office.

Her destination was the treasury, located on the floor directly below the Headmaster's Office.

Stepping off the stairs, she confronted enormous iron doors. They were kept shut with a thick bolt mechanism, which in turn was secured with an equally large padlock.

This place was where artifacts dating from even before the Academy's establishment were contained. After cautiously surveying her surroundings, Miss Longueville withdrew her wand from a pocket. It was about the length of a pencil, but with a flick of the wrist, it extended to the length of an conductor's baton, which she whirled expertly.

Miss Longueville cast another spell.

Once the invocation was complete, she pointed the baton at the padlock.

However... nothing happened.

"Well, it's not like I really expected a Spell of Unbinding to work anyway."

Smiling deviously, she began reciting the words to one of her specialty spells.

It was a Transmutation spell. Chanting loud and clear, she waved her baton at the heavy lock. The magic cascaded over it... but even after a considerable wait, there was no visible change.

"Looks like it's been magically reinforced by a Square-class mage," she muttered.

A Spell of Reinforcement was one that prevented the oxidation and decomposition of matter. Any substance that had this spell cast on it was protected from any chemical reactions, and allowed it to be preserved forever in that state. Even transmutation magic would have no effect against something protected like this. Only if one's magical skill surpassed that of the mage who cast the spell could it be overcome.

As it was, the mage who had enchanted this door was apparently an extremely powerful mage, considering that not even Miss Longueville, an expert in Earth magic and transmutation in particular, was able to affect the door.

Taking off her glasses, she stared at the door once more. At this point, she heard footsteps coming up the staircase.

She shrunk down her baton and slipped it back into her pocket.

The person who appeared was Colbert.

"Greetings, Miss Longueville. What are you doing here?"

"Mister Colbert, I was going to catalog the contents of the treasury, but..."

"Oh, that's quite some work. It'd probably take you all day to go over each and every item. There's a lot of junk mixed together with them, and it's a rather cramped space they've been arranged in too."

"Indeed."

"Why don't you just borrow the key from Old Osmond?"

The woman smiled.

"Well... I didn't want to disturb his sleep. In any case, I'm in no immediate hurry to complete the catalog..."

"I see. Sleep, you say. That old man, I mean, Old Osmond, is quite a deep sleeper. It seems I shall have to visit him another time."

Mister Colbert began to walk off, but paused in his tracks, and turned around.

"Err... Miss Longueville?"

"Is something the matter?"

Colbert looked slightly embarrassed as he opened his mouth to speak.

"If it would be all right, how would you like to, say... join me for lunch?"

She took a moment to consider, then she smiled brightly as she accepted the offer.

"Sure, it would be my pleasure."

The two of them headed down the stairs.

"Hey, Mister Colbert."

In slightly informal tones, Miss Longueville struck up conversation again.

"Y-yes? What is it?"

Emboldened by how easily his invitation had been taken up, Colbert responded quite eagerly to her.

"Is anything important actually inside the treasury?"

"There is."

"Then, do you know of the 'Spear of the Gods'?"

"Ah, that is quite a curious item, indeed."

Her eyes glinted.

"What… do you mean curious?"

"It's extremely volatile, it seems to release lightning at anyone who goes near it. But never mind that, what would you like to eat? Today's menu is flounder baked in herbs... but I'm quite well-acquainted with Marteau the head chef, and I can have him make any of the world's finest delica-"

"Ahem."

Miss Longueville interrupted Colbert's babbling.

"Y-yes?"

"I must say, the treasury is quite amazingly built. No matter what kind of magic is tried, it would be impossible to open, I assume?"

"That's quite right. It's impossible for just any one mage. After all, it was devised by a group of Square-class mages to resist all spells."

"I'm very impressed that you're so knowledgeable about this, Mister Colbert."

She regarded him with a comfortable expression.

"Eh? Well... Haha, I just happened to come across a lot of documents pertaining to this floor, that's all... I like to consider it a part of my research, haha. Thanks to that, I'm still single at this age... yes."

"I'm sure the woman that you find will be very happy to be with you. After all, you can teach her so much about things that nobody else knows..."

Miss Longueville fixed him with a fascinated look.

"Oh, no! Please don't tease me like that!"

Colbert flustered nervously as he wiped sweat from his balding forehead. Then, regaining composure, he faced her seriously.

"Miss Longueville. Have you heard of the Ball of Frigg that is being held on the day of Yule?"

"No, I haven't."

"Haha, I guess it's because you've only been in Tristain for two months. Well, it's nothing spectacular, just a party of sorts. However, it's said that a couple who dances at this ball will be destined to be together or something like that. It's just a petty legend of course! Yes!"

"So?"

Smiling, she pressed him to continue.

"So... if it would be all right, I was wondering if you would dance with me, yes."

"I would love to. While ball parties are fabulous, I'd like to know more about the treasury right now. I'm quite fascinated by magical items, you see."

Wanting to further impress Miss Longueville, Colbert racked his brains. _Treasury, treasury, she says..._

Remembering something she might find interesting, he put on an important air and started to talk.

"Ah yes, there's one thing I can tell you. Although it's not particularly important..."

"By all means, do tell."

"Certainly, the treasury is invincible against magical attacks, but I believe it has one fatal weakness."

"Oh, that's intriguing."

"That weakness is... physical force."

"Physical force?"

"Yes! For example, well, not that this is ever likely, but a giant golem could-"

"A giant golem?"

Colbert stated his opinion quite proudly to Miss Longueville. And once he was done talking, she couldn't help but smile in satisfaction.

"That was most intriguing indeed, Mister Colbert."

_I'm gonna be honest, I was not at all satisfied with my infodump at the beginning of the chapter there, and since it was running so damn long I couldn't really cover anything about Ramza's magick abilities. Other than that, I'm more or less satisfied with how this chapter went. Um, anyways to all my fans out there, please take a look at my other stories, and if anyone knows a story they want to see crossed over with Gods Eater: Burst (it's basically a post-apocalypse Monster Hunter), please PM me with the series and a link to where I can find it._


	6. Chapter 5

_Whelp ,I'm gonna try to make Zero no Itan-sha a little more original from here on, since it seems most complaints came from me overly adhering to the original text. If you don't like it then too bad, also in this fic Derflinger got melted down and possessed a bastard sword instead of the falchion/katana hybrid used in the series._

**Chapter 5: Derflinger **

Ramza stared suspiciously at the strange four-legged beast that Louise called a "horse."

"Louise, I appreciate the fact that you are offering to buy me a sword, but why do we need to ride this… _thing…_ to the shop?" Ramza asked, eyeing the horse with extreme distrust, wishing that he had his old black chocobo with him.

"Ramza, why are you eyeing the horse like you've never seen one before?" Louise asked, looking at Ramza as though she had no clue what he was doing.

"Because I haven't, we don't have horses in Ivalice, we use chocobos."

"What is a chocobo?"

Now it was Ramza's turn to give Louise an odd look.

"A large bipedal bird that is flightless, they are used as mounts." Ramza explained while Louise looked at him as though she didn't believe him.

"Why are you looking at me as though you think I'm lying?" Ramza asked Louise annoyedly.

"Because that sounds ridiculous," Louise explains.

Deciding it was best to not continue the argument Ramza gets on the horse rather nervously, sitting in the saddle with semi-familiarity.

'_This is going to be a long trip…'_

*scene break*

Once in town Ramza found himself unconsciously staring as he took in the sight of the bustling city around him. Ramza was a city lad, he had first grown up in the slum district surrounding Eagrose Castle and then after his mother died he was taken in by his father, forming a bond with Delita that he had once doubted would ever fade, now he wondered if they would ever return to that time when they had all been happy, Delita, Alma, himself, and… Teitra, his greatest failure, his inability to bring her back haunted him to this day.

"Ramza, what's wrong?" Louise asked him, and Ramza jumped in shock as he realized he had been staring off into space, lost in his thoughts.

"N-nothing Louise, just old memories." Ramza explained hurriedly before berating himself for allowing himself to be distracted as they walked into the weapons shop.

A sword-shaped sign dangled under it. It looked like this was the arms dealer's shop. Louise and Ramza walked up the stone stops, opened the door, and entered the shop.

Despite the bright daylight outside, the shop was a bit dark inside. A gas lamp flickered. The walls and shelves were filled with unorganized weapons. A detailed suit of armor decorated the room. A man in his fifties smoking a pipe eyed Louise suspiciously. That is, until he saw the pentagram on her golden button. He removed his pipe and said, "My lady! My noble lady! All of my wares here are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!"

"I'll be your customer."

"Oh… that's rather weird… a noble buying a sword! Quite strange."

"Why is that?"

"Well… priests wave sacred staffs, soldiers wave swords, and nobles wave wands. Isn't that the rule?"

"He has a point Ramza, why _do_ you want a sword?" Louise asked Ramza curiously.

"The education of nobility is different back home, and besides that, the Beoulve house has a strong military tradition, it would be stranger if I _didn't_ use a weapon." Ramza explained off-handedly as he examined the various blades in the shop.

The shopkeeper gave Ramza an appraising look, the boy had the air of nobility yes, but he was built like a swordsman, his muscles well suited to swinging blades tirelessly against his opponent.

"What type on sword are you looking for?" The merchant asked, addressing Ramza rather than Louise since he was obviously the one who would be using the sword they bought.

"A bastard sword, one with good durability and a decent edge," Ramza replied confidently.

"I'll go see what we have." The merchant said, walking into the back of the shop as one rather vexing enchanted sword came to mind for him.

Shortly after going inside the shopkeeper come back with a white longsword, the weapon was four feet long in total, with a full 35 inches devoted to the five-inch-wide double-edged blade. The guard on the blade was hooked to assist in disarming and piercing a man's helm on impact and the pommel on the twelve-inch handle was a simple conical spike that was designed to stab people at ultra-short range. All in all it was an epitome of pragmatic combat, the perfect design for a bastard sword, which somehow managed to be alluring at the same time. Even Louise, who knew nothing of swords, could feel a sense of awe at the naked danger of the blade.

"How much?" Louise asked the merchant as she continued staring at the blade, Ramza said nothing at all, hiding how much he wanted the weapon.

"Normally a sword like this would never be sold for less than 1,000 new gold coins but because of how… difficult it is to stomach I'm willing to lower the price to 250."

"Difficult to-?"

"Two-fifty?! Two-fifty gold coins he says! I am Derflinger, I am the greatest sword in this shop and you offer to sell me for 250 gold?!"

"The sword… talks…" Ramza observed in monotone, by the gods above and Ultima's backside did he want that sword.

*scene break*

"Why, just why, did we buy the talking sword Ramza?" Louise asked her familiar annoyedly as he eagerly examined every inch of the blade they had just purchased.

"Because I have never in my life found a blade that felt more natural in my hands." Ramza explained as he drew the sword and experimentally swung, already used to the walk on the horse the two of them were riding on, it wasn't anywhere near as good as a chocobo, but it was faster than walking.

"And I haven't found someone who could wield me this well since my creator, 6,000 years ago."

"Six thousand years?!" Louise shrieked in shock, causing everyone present to wince, even Derflinger.

"Yep." The sword replied smugly.

"Impressive…" Ramza complimented freely.

"Thank you partner."

And so things continued until they got back to the academy. As Louise and Ramza walked back to their room they were shocked to find Flame curled up and waiting for them at the door. As soon as Flame spotted Ramza he growled happily and eagerly jumped up, grabbing Ramza by his tunic's front and dragging him onto his stomach before carrying the helpless fighter off like some sort of princess kidnapped by a dragon.

"Flame, what are you doing?" Ramza asked the lizard nervously as it dragged him rather speedily towards Kirche's room. After failing to get a reply Ramza began to get more nervous as to the salamander's intent, until Kirche's room opened up and Ramza was dragged inside.

"Close the door." Kirche's voice commanded after Ramza stood up, the front of his tunic a little mussed up from being dragged across the ground, Ramza obliged without thinking, warily taking in the darkness of the room, the light of the lamp, and the healthy glow of Kirche's skin as she sat in negligee on the edge of her bed.

'_Not good.'_ Was all Ramza thought as he unconsciously backed up towards the door, Kirche standing up and sashaying over to him with a grin that could melt a lesser man.

"Ramza, do you know what my runic name is?" Kirche asked Ramza, putting her arms on either side of his head and smiling as she tried to press her large breasts against his muscular chest.

'_Oh by Zalera's accursed visage, she is an attack-type.'_ Ramza swore mentally as he wondered how long it would take Louise to get upset and barge in.

"The Ardent, correct?"

"That is correct, and as my name indicates, I am very passionate, and my lust is as flammable as hay… that's why I suddenly called you here. Don't you get it? Isn't this really bad of me?"

"I am hardly the one to be judge of such matters, but Kirche, Flame abducted me right in front of Louise's face, and she will be here any moment." Ramza replied, feeling very nervous suddenly.

"What?!" Kirche shrieked, spinning away from Ramza to glare at her happily croaking familiar. "Flame, I told you to wait until he was alone!" Kirche scolded her familiar, who sat there in obliviousness due to having his two favorite people in the same room.

At that moment...

Someone kicked the door open, and there stood Louise, her hands shaking in anger and her wand in her grip Louise aimed her wand at Ramza and Kirche. Ramza suddenly found himself feeling nothing but intense dread.

"KIRCHE!" Louise howled towards Kirche's general direction. Kirche acted like she just noticed her presence, and slowly removed herself from Ramza, while waving her hand indignantly.

"Don't you see that we're kind of busy here, Vallière?"

"Zerbst! Whose familiar do you think you're touching?"

Ramza was at a loss. Louise's brown eyes glimmered with fiery anger.

Kirche raised her hands above her head. Stuck between the two, Ramza felt very nervous, but also very glad Kirche had not had the chance to do anything with him yet.

"Love and fire are the Zerbst family's destiny. It's a fate that burns in our bodies. It is our lifelong goal to embrace this passionate flame. You should know that." Kirche shrugged, while Louise shook in anger.

"Come here, Ramza." Louise stared at her familiar.

"Oh? Louise... Ramza is nobility right, what makes you think you can just order him around? Your familiar contract is likely just going to get revoked correct? Please respect his choice." Kirche said at the side.

"Is that even possible?" Ramza asked, but both girls just ignored him.

"Keep your mouth shut Zerbst." Louise replied as she took Ramza's hand and walked off, taking him with her.

Back in Louise's room Ramza was sitting in his chair as Louise ranted and raved about how much she hated Kirche. All Ramza had gotten out of it was that some time in the past a Zerbst had stolen away a Valliere's fiancé, and that since the two families were on opposite sides of the same border they frequently were the first to come into conflict when war between Germania and Tristain broke out.

"How dare that, that _Boobie Monster_ make a move on my familiar, I swear I'll blow her back to Germania!" Louise ranted as Ramza sighed, polishing, Derflinger.

"She's gonna rant until she passes out isn't she?" Derflinger asked wearily, Ramza could only nod helplessly.


	7. Chapter 6

_If you like Zero no Itan-sha then please look at my other fic Zero and Stray: s/8917898/1/Zero-and-Stray _

**Chapter 6: Fouquet**

In Tristain, there was a mage thief by the name of "The Crumbling Dirt," who had every noble in the country cowering in fear. This one's full name was Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt.

When Fouquet heard that a noble in the North had a jeweled crown, he would go all the way there to steal it. When Fouquet heard that a noble in the South had a staff bestowed by the king as a family treasure, he broke through walls to steal it. In the East, none of the best pearl rings by the artisans of the White Islands remained in any mansion. Fouquet also eagerly took possession of a priceless bottle of well-aged wine from a winery in the West. The thief was everywhere.

Fouquet's tactics range from stealthy infiltration to outright breaking in. The national bank had been attacked in broad daylight, and houses were silently frequented in the depth of night. In any case, Fouquet's tactics simply left the royal mage guards in the dust.

Fouquet was identified only by the use of alchemy to enter targeted rooms, turning doors and walls to dirt and sand, then walking through the gaping holes. The nobles were not stupid, of course, they had tried to magically "solidify" everything around their treasure in an attempt to stop the alchemy, but Fouquet's magic was simply too strong, nullifying everything, fortified or not, into dirt.

If Fouquet decided on breaking the way in, a 30-mail tall dirt golem was used. Tossing aside mage guards and shattering castle walls, it let him boldly take prizes in broad daylight.

No one had ever seen Fouquet's appearance up close. Nobody even knew for sure whether he was a man or a woman. All they knew is that Fouquet was an earth mage of at least Triangle class, that he left insulting notes, such as "I got your treasure. –-Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt" at every robbery scene, and that he preferred treasures and artifacts of great magical power.

*scene break*

It was this same Fouquet that was currently standing in her underwear before a full-length mirror, fussing as she tried to get her long, green hair to cooperate as she went through several sets of outfits that straddled the line between indecent and provocative.

"Why is finding a good outfit so hard?!" The woman screamed in frustration.

*scene break*

The day after Ramza's attempted seduction by Kirche he had gone to class with Louise and was surprised by the sheer number of stares he received, the words "wandless", "noble", and "elf", being overheard constantly.

"Louise, why is everyone mentioning elves, and what the hell are they?" Ramza whispered to the girl confusedly.

Louise looked at Ramza as though he was an idiot, unable to believe what he had asked for a moment.

"Everyone is mentioning elves because you cast that fire spell without a wand yesterday, only elven Firstborn magic can do that, and to answer your other question, elves are long-eared demonspawn that chased our ancestors out of the founder's Holy Land." Louise explained while maintaining the same disbelieving look, had her familiar truly come from another world after all?

At this point a teacher came in and tried to make the class settle down so he could teach. The class was a basic explanation of wind magic and the teacher called up several students to demonstrate.

*scene break*

After class Ramza headed out towards the courtyard, Derflinger strapped to his back so he could practice his sword forms, when he heard someone call for him.

"Master Beoulve, wait!" A male voice shouted from the stairs.

'_Master Beoulve?' _ Ramza thought incredulously, turning around to spot Guiche running towards him.

"M-master Beoulve, in light of your effortless victory over myself I was wondering if you would be willing to teach my unworthy self in the arts of war. For your skill on the battlefield clearly outshines even my own and your fire magic was absolutely amazing!" The boy gushed before he began to wax poetics about Ramza's victory over himself, feeling a headache coming on Ramza just sighed and clasped a hand over Guiche's mouth.

"Yes, I will teach you," Ramza agreed, "but I must warn you that my methods can very easily kill you, I have never lost someone during a training mission but it is in your own best interest to get a healer ready." Ramza warned the boy before removing his hand.

"Understood Master Beoulve, where would you like to rendezvous?" The foppish boy asked excitedly.

"Same place as before. Vestri Courtyard." Ramza replied as he walked outside, ignoring Sylphid and Flame as they followed him once he was out the door.

When Ramza entered the courtyard he drew Derflinger with a slight smile, holding the blade in his right hand and spinning the blade in a clockwise motion with both hands to help familiarize himself with it a bit more before he suddenly hefts the sword in his right hand.

"Ha!" He shouts loudly, swinging the sword down as the whoosh of air being rent fills the small courtyard.

"Nice swing partner." Derflinger comments as Ramza begins to execute a series of basic strikes, slowly tuning out the world around him as he begins executing more and more complex combinations until Derflinger was an invisible streak carving up the air around him with the sound of a lion's roar.

"Amazing sword skills Master Beoulve!" Ramza heard Guiche praise as he sighed, putting away the sentient sword but leaving the blade slightly drawn so it could comment on the match.

"Guiche, I am going to insist that you just refer to me as Ramza during our practice, understood?" Ramza asked as he looked to see that Guiche had brought a blond-haired girl with him.

"Yes sir, Ramza, this is the beautiful Montmorency the Fragrance, Montmorency, this is the noble Ramza Beoulve." Guiche explained introducing the two as he eyed Ramza.

"Um, Sir Ramza, what type of training do you have in mind?" Guiche asked, suddenly feeling as though his instructor was about to pull out a satanic practice sword named after a tiger.

"Just a light spar, Guiche, can you use magick to make two broadswords?" Ramza asked with a well-concealed but still feral smile, "my specialty is fire you see so I can not do it."

"O-of course Sir Ramza." Guiche exclaimed, waving his rose wand with a flourish and creating two three-foot long broadswords.

'_Impressive make on the blades, they're practically the real thing.' _Ramza observed as he took one of the swords and gave it a test swing. "You come from a military family don't you?"

"Yes, the Gramont family has had an illustrious military career for generations, why my own father is a general in Tristain's army."

Hearing this Ramza could only blink as he remembered his own family's history, a soft smile coming to his lips that vanished as he held the broadsword in his right hand, watching Guiche and hoping the boy wouldn't let him down.

"We're starting now."

"Yes, let us do battle with the swords in our- "

*WHACK!*

*scene break*

By the time Ramza was done drilling basic defensive posture into Guiche's limbs he found out to his surprise that not only had night fallen but that they had an audience. As Ramza looked around he was surprised to see Louise watching from a bench with Kirche, who had a blush on her face and was fiddling with her uniform in a manner that made Ramza very uncomfortable, a blue-haired girl that Ramza recognized as Sylphid's master reading a book between them.

"Enjoying the show?" Ramza asked with a good-natured grin as he watched the practice swords vanish under Guiche's magical orders.

"Yes." Kirche, Louise, and Montmorency all replied together as Montmorency healed the battered and broken lump that was once called Guiche.

"S-sir Ramza, did you need to be so brutal?" Guiche asked once he was recovered enough to speak.

"Yes, I did, I wanted to show you what it was like to be completely overwhelmed by your enemy, unable to even think of fighting back, before drilling you properly." Ramza explained, suddenly yelping as Sylphid picked him up with a happy purr then hugged him mercilessly.

"Sylphid, stop it." Tabitha ordered without even once glancing up from her book and the dragon complied with a sad look in its eyes as Ramza spotted something unusual near a tower.

"Everyone, is it normal to see massive golems getting ready to punch holes in a tower here?"

"What? No." Louise said as everyone present briefly wondered if Ramza was sane.

"Then please look behind you." Ramza ordered as he drew Derflinger, running towards aforementioned golem.

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!" Kirche screamed as she spotted the giant construct and Ramza drew Derflinger, blinking in surprise as he body suddenly felt lighter, allowing him to move at speeds he hadn't thought possible without magic, it was light wielding Excalibur again.

"This could help." Ramza said with a grin as he purposefully left the children behind, pulling on his most negative emotions and the darkness of the night around him for his attack as Derflinger hummed with the evil power.

"H-hey partner, what is this?" Derflinger asked nervously as the massive earth golem punched a hole in the tower, a dark figure running into the now-exposed room, stealing a six-foot bundle that sparked randomly.

"Abyssal Blade!" Ramza ordered as he aimed the sword tip at the massive Golem, a cone of dark power rushing out and blasting a hole in the construct's midsection.

"What the hell?!" the mage atop the golem shrieked as they retrieved their target, leaving behind a note and running away, the golem and summoner vanishing into the night.

*scene break*

The next morning…

At the Tristain Academy of Magic, there was much commotion from last night's events, just as though a wasp's nest had been stirred.

Why? Because the Spear of the Gods had been stolen.

And it was brazenly stolen by using an Earth Golem to break through the wall of the vault.

The teachers of the Academy of Magic gathered inside the vault were speechless when they saw the gaping hole in the wall.

The inscription on the wall etched by Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt said it all:

[I have the Spear of the Gods. – Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt.]

At this point in time, all the teachers at the academy could do was gripe and whine

"It's that thief who had looted the nobles clean, Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt! How daring of him to target the academy!"

"What were the guards doing?"

"Even if the guards are around, they're useless! They're only commoners! Speaking of which, which noble was supposed to be on duty last night?"

Mrs. Chevreuse felt anxious. She was supposed to be on duty last night. "But who would steal from the academy?" she thought while sleeping soundly in her own room instead of being next to the vault door like all nobles on watch duty must do.

One of the teachers immediately pointed out and said, "Mrs. Chevreuse! You were supposed to be on duty last night! Am I right?"

Mrs. Chevreuse broke into tears, "I'm very sorry… Very sorry…"

"Even if you cried your heart out, would it come back? Or are you going to pay for it?"

"But… but I just finished paying for my house." Mrs. Chevreuse knelt down on the floor and wept.

Just then, Old Osman arrived. "Erm… This is not the best time to be hard on the ladies, right?"

The fellow teacher who reprimanded Mrs. Chevreuse retorted, "But Osman, Mrs. Chevreuse failed in her duty! She was sleeping soundly in her bed when she was supposed to be on watch!"

Old Osman gently stroke his long beard while looking at the very shaken and stirred teacher.

"Erm… What's your name again?"

"It's Gimli! Have you forgotten?"

"Oh, right! Gimli! Well, Mr. Gimli, don't get angry. Honestly speaking, how many of you here can say that you're always vigilant throughout your tour of duty?" Old Osman replied.

The teachers looked at each other and hung their heads in shame. There was silence.

"Well, that's the situation that we're in now. Talking about responsibility, I think all of us, including myself, have to be held accountable for this incident. Why did we think that a thief could never infiltrate the academy? Is it because of the number of mages we have in the academy here that gives us the assurance that we won't be attacked? This type of thinking is wrong from the beginning."

Old Osman gazed at the hole in the wall and continued, "It's our complacency that has gave Fouquet the courage to trespass, and steal the Spear of the Gods. We're all at fault."

Mrs. Chevreuse looked upon Old Osman with gratitude and said, "Oh! Osman, Mr. Osman! Thank you for your benevolence. From now on I'll look upon you as though you're my father."

"Well, that… Hehe… Miss…" Old Osman started to stroke Mrs. Chevreuse's bottom.

"If that's okay with you… It's up to the headmaster then."

Old Osman, not wanting to put the blame on anybody, decided that was the best way to loosen the uptight atmosphere. After that he proceeded to clear his throat, with everybody remaining solemn waiting for him to speak.

"Well then, who were the ones who witnessed the theft?" Osman asked.

"It was these six." said Mr. Colbert while pointing to the group behind him.

It was Louise, Kirche, Guiche, Montmorency, Ramza, and Tabitha.

"Why do I not feel surprised?" Old Osman wondered aloud.

"Please tell us about the event in depth."

Louise stepped forward and described what she saw. "Mm… A great clay golem appeared and broke the wall. The hooded magician standing on its shoulder went in and took something… I think it most probably was the Spear of the Gods... After that the hooded mage rode on the golem and escaped beyond the school walls… The golem became a big mound of earth in the end."

"After that, what happened?"

"Later, all we saw was a mound of earth, with no sign of the hooded mage."

"So… that is what happened…" Osman said while stroking his beard.

"Even though we wanted to carry on the chase, but without any leads we couldn't. So…"

At this point in time Old Osman suddenly remembered a question to ask Mr. Colbert, "Ah, Where is Miss Longueville?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't seen her since morning."

"Where could she have gone to during these trying times?"

"That's right, where could she be?"

In the midst of those mutterings, Miss Longueville finally appeared.

"Miss Longueville! Where have you been? Something terrible has happened!" said Mr. Colbert anxiously.

Miss Longueville spoke to Old Osman in a very cool and calm manner. "I'm extremely sorry to be late! I was doing some investigations. So…"

"Investigations?"

"Yes. When I woke up this morning there was already a lot of commotion happening, so then I went to the vault and saw the inscription on the wall made by Fouquet. I knew that the thief infamous throughout the land had struck again. Therefore, I immediately started investigations."

"You're really very efficient, Miss Longueville." Mr. Colbert then asked again in an urgent manner, "But in the end, did you find out anything?"

"Yes, I have gotten hold of the whereabouts of Fouquet."

"What!?" Mr. Colbert spoke with amazement. "Where did you get this information from Miss Longueville?"

"According to the commoners around the area, they saw what seemed to be like a person wearing a black hooded cloak entering an abandoned house in the nearby forest. I think that the person is most probably Fouquet and that abandoned house is most probably his hideout."

Louise upon hearing that exclaimed, "A black hooded cloak? Unmistakable, that must be Fouquet!"

Old Osman too got psyched up and asked Miss Longueville, "How far is it from here?"

"By foot it takes half a day, by horse it should only take four hours."

"We must report this to the Imperial Court right away! We must seek reinforcements from the imperial army!" Mr. Colbert shouted yet again.

Old Osman shook his head and stared at Colbert and with a vigor unfitting for an old man and shouted, "You fool! By the time we report this to the imperial court, Fouquet would have gotten away Scott free! Besides, if we can't even handle such a small problem on our own, we're not fit to be called nobles! Since the Spear was stolen from the academy, then it's the academy's responsibility to get back the Spear ourselves!"

Miss Longueville smiled, as though she was waiting for this answer all along.

Old Osman coughed for a while, and then started recruiting volunteers. "Now, we're going to organize a search team to find Fouquet. Those willing to join, please rise up your wands."

All of the nobles looked at each other awkwardly, not one raised a wand.

"No one? That's peculiar. No one wants to be known as the hero who caught Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt?"

Louise was among those who lowered their heads but she decided to raise her wand.

"Miss Vallière!" Mrs. Chevreuse exclaimed in surprise. "You mustn't do this! You're still a student! Please leave this to the teachers!"

"But none of you are willing to help…" Louise muttered.

Ramza smiled and stood rigidly behind Louise like an honor guard for royalty, something he had been at one point in the past.

Seeing that Louise had raised her wand, Kirche too raised her wand, with a little reluctance though.

Mr. Colbert even more surprised, exclaimed; "Miss Zerbst! Aren't you a student too?"

Kirche replied nonchalantly, "Well, I simply cannot lose to the Vallière family."

Seeing Kirche raising her wand, Tabitha did the same.

"Tabitha! You need not do this! This does not concern you at all!" Kirche said.

Tabitha just answered, "I'm worried."

Feeling touched, Kirche looked at Tabitha with gratitude.

Louise at the same time also muttered, "Thank you… Tabitha."

At this point Guiche raised his rose wand silently, causing everyone to gape as Montmorency did the same, determined to make sure her boyfriend was kept away from flirting with the women present.

"Well then I guess these children are going." Old Osman said with a slight laugh.

"Sir! Headmaster Osman! I strongly object! We must not put the life of a student in danger!"

"Well, would you then go in their stead, Mrs. Chevreuse?"

"Ah... Erm… Well… I'm not feeling very well recently, so…"

"They have seen Fouquet before plus, even though Miss Tabitha here is very young, I have heard that she has already been conferred the title of chevalier, am I right?"

Tabitha did not answer and just stood quietly.

All the teachers looked at Tabitha in astonishment.

"Is that true, Tabitha?" asked Kirche in similar astonishment.

Even though chevalier is the lowest title that the Imperial family can confer to a person, Kirche was still amazed that Tabitha could attain it at such a young age. If it's a title of "Baron" or even "Marquis", the titles could be obtained by purchasing large amounts of land. However for a person to be called a chevalier, the only way is to render great service for the country. It's a title that can only be conferred by merit.

Once again, there was great commotion inside the vault.

Old Osman went on and looked on Kirche and said, "Miss Zerbst from Germania comes from a family of distinguished war heroes, and she herself has a very strong background in fire magic."

Kirche flicked her hair with confidence.

At this point Old Osman looked at Guiche and Montmorency as he continued, "As well as this, Mr. Gramont comes from the distinguished Gramont military family, while Miss Montmorency is a skilled water mage in her own right."

"Ahem!" Clearing his throat, Osman veered his sight clear of Louise and said; "That... Miss Vallière comes from the prestigious Vallière Family, a family renowned for their mages. And… She'll be a promising one in the future… and as for her familiar…"

Old Osman looked at Ramza with a slightly fond grin. "Young Master Beoulve here has informed me his own family has a military history as old as their kingdom and is a square-class Fire mage."

At this information the entire assembly stood, shocked while Ramza looked away, avoiding eye contact.

"It is not something worth making a scene over…" Ramza protested softly.

Then Headmaster Osman in a solemn tone spoke, "If anyone thinks that they're more capable than the mentioned six, please step forward."

No one stepped forward.

Therefore Old Osman turned to the group of four and said, "The academy awaits the capture of Fouquet then!"

Louise, Kirche, Guiche, Montmorency, and Tabitha stood to attention and said, "We swear upon our wands to capture Fouquet!"

"Well then, ready the carriage and set off right away. You must conserve your energy before you reach your destination."

"Miss Longueville, could you go with them, too?"

"Yes, Headmaster Old Osman. I had wanted to go with them as well," said Miss Longueville.

_I rather liked this chapter, it was fun to write, and yes. Guiche is learning swordsmanship from Ramza; I had that planned out from day one. Y'know, has anyone else noticed that with a little tinkering Guiche could easily become Ramza 2.0? I mean, both are the children of famous military families and are both sword-mages of sorts._


	8. Chapter 7

_To answer the question people have been asking, yes there will be some Harem Antics but I plan to use them sparingly since Ramza is such a Celibate Hero that it might be hard to write them, also the harem will not include the full cast of girls available._

_Out of the running for sure are: Louise, Tabitha, Kirche, and Siesta_

**Chapter 7: The Spear of the Gods**

Guiche, Montmorency, Tabitha, Louise, and Kirche were sitting in the back of a wagon; Ramza and Miss Longueville were sitting in the front. Even though it was considered a carriage, in actual fact it was just a cart with wooden planks attached as a seat. The good thing about it though was that if they were attacked, they could easily jump out of the carriage right way.

Miss Longueville was in charge of driving the carriage, Ramza was acting as look-out with Derflinger partially drawn in his lap.

Kirche asked the silent Longueville who was concentrating on the reins, "Miss Longueville, this type of job could be done by a commoner. Why do you have to do it yourself?"

Miss Longueville smiled and answered; "It's all right. I'm not a noble anyway."

Kirche paused for a while, and asked again, "But aren't you Headmaster Osman's secretary?"

"Yes, I am. But Old Osman isn't a person who is concerned by a person's status when looking for help. Whether if he's a noble or commoner."

"If it's possible, tell me in depth how you lost your status, please."

But Miss Longueville just smiled at Kirche. It seemed like she did not want to speak anymore.

"Just tell me please, even if it's just a little." Kirche pestered as she began leaning closer to Miss Longueville, only for Ramza to put a hand on her shoulder and shake his head.

"It is incredibly rude to try and dig up the skeletons in a person's cellar, particularly if they do not want to share." Ramza chided softly, looking away with a melancholy expression after speaking so pointedly and Louise blushed with slight embarrassment, feeling as though Ramza was partly speaking to her about not listening in on his conversation with the Headmaster.

Instead of acting as though she had taken his words to heart Kirche just grinned and positioned herself behind Ramza, pressing her considerable cleavage against the back of his head since his spiked black armor wouldn't allow her to press against anywhere else.

"Darling, instead of hanging around with that washboard why don't you allow yourself to be my familiar instead?" Kirche offered with a sensuous purr in Ramza's ear, which he ignored pointedly, his eyes fixed on the road.

"Zerbst! Stay away from my familiar!" Louise shrieked, aiming her wand at the offending redhead while Guiche just stared and wondered how Ramza could remain so passive with Kirche hanging off of him like she was.

At Louise's outrage Kirche just grinned and tried to rile up the cute witch even more, "It's all because of your impetuous that got me into this mess. Capturing Fouquet…"

Louise gave an angry stare at Kirche, "What do you mean by that? Didn't you volunteer yourself in?"

"If you had come alone, wouldn't Ramza be in danger, too? Am I right, Louise the Zero?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Anyways, if that large golem appeared again, you would surely run to the rear and let Ramza do all the fighting, right?"

"Why would I run away? I would use my magic, you'll see!"

"You, using magic? What a joke!"

The two started bickering again. Tabitha continued reading her book.

"Ladies, please enough fighting- " Guiche began weakly, only for Louise to cut him off.

"Shut up Guiche!" The pinkette warned, aiming her want in his direction.

Suddenly, it turned dark. The carriage had entered the forest. The darkness and the weird smell present in the forest sent shivers down their spines.

"We'll have to walk from here onwards." Miss Longueville said. The group then disembarked from the carriage, and proceeded to the small path into the forest.

"I'm afraid of the dark and don't like the feeling around here…" Kirche said while wrapping her arms around Ramza.

"Could you not keep so close to me?"

"But I'm afraid!" Kirche said with exaggerated reaction. Anyone could tell that she was lying…

Feeling mildly annoyed Ramza merely unwrapped Kirche from around himself, "Then please cling to Guiche." He told her, causing the playboy to stammer and babble in shock.

The group reached a clearing in the forest. It was roughly the size of the Vestri Court and in the middle was an abandoned house. The house was built from wood with a corroded stove. Next to it was a completely rundown warehouse.

The group hid behind the bushes and observed the house.

Miss Longueville pointed to the house and said, "From the information I've gathered, that should be the place."

"Looks like no one is inside. Is Fouquet really hiding there?"

The group started discussing, using sticks to draw their battle plan on the ground. They all agreed that ambushing him was the best way, all the better if he was sleeping.

Firstly, they would need to scout around the house and know what is going inside. After that if Fouquet is inside, the scout will draw him out, because there is not enough earth inside the house for him to create an earth golem. Once outside, the rest would all cast their magic against him, without letting him have a chance to summon his golem.

"I will go in, Guiche I want your Valkyries to act as a guard for the girls, and I want _you three_," Ramza began, pointing at Louise, Tabitha, and Kirche, "to stay in the back ready to cast spells if something goes wrong."

At this point Ramza turned to look at Miss Longueville and was not surprised to see that she was missing.

With a slight sigh Ramza drew out Derflinger and began to move in closer to the house. The runes on his left hand started glowing, and at the same time Ramza felt his body becoming as light as a feather.

Ramza moved closer to the house and peered through the window in the house. There was only one room in the whole house, with a table and a reclining chair that were both covered in dust, there was also a bottle of wine on the table and in one corner of the room there was firewood.

There was no one inside and there did not seem to be any place to hide inside the house either.

Had he already left this place?

But their opponent is Fouquet, a triangle mage, so they may still be hiding inside even though there did not seem to be a hiding place inside, with this in mind Ramza prepped Derflinger and carefully entered, prodding with Derflinger to check for traps or hidden doors. Inside the house was a large bundle that was wrapped in some form of cloth. Grabbing hold of the bundle Ramza began to walk outside, only to start running when he heard four feminine shrieks, one of which was especially high pitched.

"What happened?!" Ramza shouted as he ran outside, only to pause as he heard a massive rumble behind himself. Turning around he wasn't surprised to see a giant earth golem.

"It's an earth golem!" Kirche screamed.

Tabitha was the first to react. Waving her staff, she started chanting her magical inscriptions. A whirlwind appeared out of her staff and struck the golem.

After the whirlwind dissipated, the golem remained unscathed.

Following Tabitha, Kirche took out her wand hidden in her cleavage and started chanting.

A fireball shot out of her wand and engulfed the golem. Even though the whole golem was on fire, it did not seem to be affected by the fire at all.

"It's too tough for the few of us!" Kirche shouted.

"Retreat" Tabitha said softly.

Kirche and Tabitha went different ways and ran off as Guiche panicked for a moment before grabbing Montmorency and Louise with his valyries, running away with a girly scream.

'_So that WASN'T Tabitha I heard.' _Ramza observed casually as he regarded to large golem and the weapons in his hands. The night before he had been lucky that none of the children had seen him cast Abyssal Blade or noticed the damage its backlash had done to him. This time any Darkness he used would definitely be seen and he would never be able to handwave this one away as "square-class fire mage" tricks. Luckily for Ramza he had a lance in his hands. Sheathing Derflinger with a muttered apology to the blade Ramza unwrapped the bundle in hands and smiled. The "Spear of the Gods" was a six-foot long Trident made from black metal. Touching the crackling shaft of the lance Ramza grinned darkly as power surged through his form, overwhelming his senses so much he almost missed Tabitha gasp out the word "dragon" before suddenly all of his senses sharpened, he could hear every whisper of the soil rubbing against itself, see every iota of information on the battlefield, hell he could _feel_ the air around him hum happily as Ramza hefted the spear of Odin, Gungnir, and Jumped, forcing mana into his legs to enable himself to fly several hundred feet past the head of the golem before he kicked against the very air, spotting something that made him frown as he aimed Gungnir and himself at the massive construct, ignoring the beast becoming steel as he felt as though he had become lightning, using Gungnir to tear through the earth golem, causing the massive construct to crumble away and turn back into the dirt from which it was formed. It was only now that Ramza was back on the ground that he felt the crackling wings and tail protruding from his back, the wings and tail of a dragon.

Louise, who witnessed everything, felt her legs weaken and sat on the floor.

Kirche, who was hiding near the bushes, came running out.

Tabitha, from her vantage point atop Sylphid stared in what for her was shocked amazement.

Guiche and Montmorency both were unable to move, stunned, as the wings and tail of the dragon faded away with Ramza's intent to kill.

Kirche hugged Ramza and said, "Ramza, My darling! You did it!"

Sylphid, who was carrying Tabitha, descended. Tabitha looked at the mound of earth and asked, "Where is Miss Longueville?"

Just then everyone besides Ramza realized that Miss Longueville was missing, right as she came out of the forest.

"Miss Longueville! Did you find out where Fouquet was controlling the golem from?" Kirche asked.

Miss Longueville shook her head, even as Ramza moved without warning, suddenly holding Gungnir at the green-haired woman's throat.

"Was the reason you were unable to find Fouquet perhaps because she's standing right here then, Miss Longueville?" Ramza asked with a warning growl, Gungnir sparking to his killing intent as the children looked at him with shocked expressions.

"Ramza, what are you-?"

"How did you know?" Fouquet, no, Miss Longueville, asked.

"When I attacked your golem I saw you controlling it while I was in the air, also, you vanished without warning when we were planning to go in. And thirdly, your magic feels identical to that golem I just destroyed." Ramza explained, suddenly spinning and striking Gungnir against the base of the woman's skull, rendering her unconscious.

At this point the children all ran up to Ramza, with Kirche, Tabitha, and Louise all hugging the deadly Dark Knight without warning, catching him off guard.

"Darling! That was amazing!" Kirche gushed as she began to rub her more *ahem* developed assets against him.

"Foolish." Tabitha admonished, having been actually forced into joining the hug by virtue of Kirche grabbing the bluenette.

"Ramza, what were those wings, and that tail?" Louise asked her familiar suspiciously.

"… I do not know Louise." The boy replied with equal parts suspicion and curiosity.

_H'okay! That was a short fight, but it was a fun one. Now, to help off complaints and curiosity I will explain something I noticed about Jump. When you use t, you don't vanish off the map, __**YOU ARE STANDING IN MID-FRACKIN'-AIR!**__ In light of this I figured that jump actually works by pumping some mana into your legs and feet to get height and then it uses it to stand in place until sufficient energy is gathered up before you drop back down on your target. In Ramza's case he skips the charge phase by just launching directly off of "walls" of air with his boosted legs. As for the wings, they are caused by Dragonheart and the fact that Ramza is wielding a heavily magic-soaked elemental weapon, a more in-depth analysis will come in future chapters, namely in the "Finding Ramza" arc-ish time period._


	9. Chapter 8

Guest 1/22/13 . chapter 7

I don't understand Louise desire to get the Spear back. She didn't have the guilty conscious of making a crack that allowed Fouquet to get into the vault in the first place. Nor was she or Ramza attacked by the golem so why did she volunteer again? Was it because she was there?  
_A: for the sake of her own ego honestly, she wanted to be recognized for doing something impressive_  
Also leads me to wonder how Fouquet managed to get in in the first place. How long was she pounding away at the heavily enchanted vault walls, without anyone noticing, for her to get in without Louise's help?  
_A: the wards are weaker than they were in canon; she only hit the wall the one time._

Kite 1/22/13 . chapter 7

Haven't finished this chapter but wanted to comment on one little thing. In fics like this, which crossover someone who basically led a band of troops I always hope that the troops are eventually pulled in, like conquista being side winded by the appearance of Ramza's entire unit as they fight their way to join him on the field... Just something I've always hoped to see and never have. Bothers me that people take commanders and leaders but never the soldiers who are loyal to them...  
_A: I'm going to incorporate a rather large portion of my main squad into this fic already, and to be honest, bringing in the entire unit or even a decent portion of it would give me more characters than I'm confident I can keep track of._

**Chapter 8: Albion, the White **Ki**ngdom I**

Inside the headmaster's office, Headmaster Osman listened to the group's account of what happened.

"Hmm… So Miss Longueville is Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt… Because she's such a beauty I did not think twice about hiring her as my secretary."

"How did you go about hiring her?" Mr. Colbert who was also present asked.

"In a tavern. I was a customer while she was a waitress there. Where I slowly caressed her from her hands down to her buttocks…"

"Then what happened?" Mr. Colbert asked again.

Headmaster Osman embarrassingly confessed, "Because she wasn't angry at all after what I did, I asked her whether she wanted to become my secretary or not."

"Why?" The bewildered Mr. Colbert continued asking.

"Anyways!" Headmaster Osman cried out using vigor unfitting for an old man.

Osman started coughing. And said sedately, "And she could use magic, too."

"Yeah, magic that could kill." Mr. Colbert mumbled to himself.

Headmaster Osman coughed again then told Mr. Colbert in a prudent manner, "Come to think of it, the reason that Fouquet allowed me to touch her all over the place, served me wine happily, and praised that I was handsome man, while I was in the tavern, was just to infiltrate the academy. All those praises were most probably just lies…"

Mr. Colbert upon hearing that immediately remembered that he was also bewitched by Fouquet once, and had revealed the weakness of the vault walls to her.

Mr. Colbert decided that he would take that secret with him to his grave.

"Yes. Beautiful women are deadly mages."

"I couldn't agree more with you, Colbert."

Ramza, Louise, Kirche, Guiche, Montmorency, and Tabitha stared blankly at the two.

"Ser, a woman's willingness to let you touch her buttocks is not something that should get you to hire her." Ramza scolded, feeling no need to hold back in correcting the Gandalf-cloned Dirty Old Man.

The embarrassed Osman cleared his throat and regained his solemn composure.

"A job well done for all of you, you have reclaimed the Spear of the Gods and captured Fouquet."

At this point Ramza attempted to give old Osman the Spear back but instead of allowing itself to be handed over Gungnir administered a heavy shock to the old man, blowing him back a good three feet.

"…" The entire room went silent at this point as Ramza once again tried handing off the Spear, this time to Mr. Colbert, only for it to repeat the blasting on him as well.

"It seems the Spear doesn't want to be gotten rid of." Old Osman observed, "Sir Ramza, would you be so kind as to hold onto the Spear for me?" The old man requested, seeing that the enchanted weapon wasn't going to accept any other keepers for awhile.

"… Certainly," Ramza agreed hesitantly.

Gently caressing each of the children's heads, Osman said, "I have requested the imperial court to confer upon you the title of Chevalier, I believe that we should have news of it soon. And since Tabitha already has the title of chevalier, I have requested that she be given the Elven Medallion."

The five student's faces brightened up upon hearing the news.

"Really?" Kirche said astoundingly.

"Yes. You have done more than enough to deserve this title. Haven't you?"

Louise gazed at Ramza who was staring at Gungnir was an expression of curiosity, surprised at the weapon's adamancy against being handed off.

"Headmaster Osman, Ramza… won't get anything?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so since Sir Beoulve is not a citizen of Tristain and has already expressed his refusal of the title."

"What?! But Sir Ramza, with your ability you deserve the title of Chevalier more than any of us!" Guiche protested to the contemplative Dark Knight. Smiling slightly at the playboy's concern Ramza just shakes his head.

"Guiche, if I accepted the rank of Chevalier it would mean a public ceremony, which is something I do not want to have any part of." Ramza explained.

"B-but, but-!" Guiche stammered, trying to protest as Ramza walked out the door, prompting the children to follow.

"Master Beoulve, please stop back in after the Ball will you?" Old Osman called out as the door closed.

*scene break*

Louise was lying on her bed. She was dreaming that she was back in her homeland, a three day ride away from the Tristain Academy, where she was born.

The young Louise in her dream was running around near the house, eventually hiding in the bushes of the labyrinth-like vegetation to hide from her pursuers.

"Louise, where are you? Come out now!" shouted her mother. In her dream, Louise was being reprimanded due to her poor results in magical studies. She was constantly being compared with her sisters, who had much better results than her.

Louise saw a pair of shoes that appeared below the bushes.

"Miss Louise really is hopeless at magic."

"I completely agree. Why can't she be like her two older sisters who are very good with magic?"

Louise, upon hearing those words, felt sad and dejected as she bit her lips. The servants have started looking for her in the vegetation. Louise tried her best to escape. She retreated to the place she called the "Secret Garden" – the central lake.

The Secret Garden was the only place where Louise felt at ease. It was tranquil, with no one else around. Flowers bloomed everywhere and birds gathered on the benches near the lake. And in the middle of the lake there was a small island on which a small house made of white marble rested.

Next to the island was a small boat originally used for leisure, but now derelict and forgotten. Her older sisters had grown up, and were busy studying magic. Her father, who had retired from his military duties, now spends his time mingling with the nobles nearby. Her father's only pastime was hunting wild game. Her mother's only interest was to teach her daughters and could not care less about anything else.

Therefore, besides Louise, no one ever came to the forgotten lake anymore; much less remembered that small boat. That is why whenever Louise was reprimanded she would come to this place.

In Louise's dream, the younger version of her jumped onto the boat and snuggled into a blanket that was prepared earlier.

As she hid inside her blanket, a noble clad in a cloak appeared from the mist-covered island.

The noble was about sixteen years old. In Louise's dream, she was only six years old; a ten year difference lay between them.

"Have you been crying, Louise?" His face could not be seen as it was covered by a large hat.

But Louise knew exactly who he was: he was the Viscount, the noble who had just inherited the lands around her homeland. Louise felt warm and fuzzy inside; the Viscount was the man of her dreams. They had often frequented banquets together and, furthermore, their fathers had already made an engagement.

"Is that you, Viscount-sama?"

The young Louise shyly poked her head up to see her beloved Viscount, only to be surprised as a blue tunic filled her vision, a warm embrace that made her feel as though nothing could go wrong accompanying it.

"Do not cry little Louise, everything will be fine." Ramza's voice echoed in Louise's ears, the warmth of his embrace causing her to wriggle in a little closer, unable to make herself desire an escape from the warm protectiveness of her familiar's hold and the comforting tune of his humming.

*scene break*

Ramza was in a slight bind. He had woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of Louise's whimpering, only to realize that the true reason he had woken up was because the petite girl had somehow gotten up from her bed and wriggled her way into his lap, despite the fact that his chair was on the other end of the room.

'_And I thought Alma was bad…'_ Ramza thought with a sigh, remembering how when growing up his little sister had clung to him during their first two years in the castle, she had been so unused to her surroundings that if she wasn't literally clinging to his shirt she was off playing with Tietra, his brothers had been rather depressed by that.

Hearing Louise sniffle against him brought Ramza back to the present and with the knowledge that he was probably going to pay later Ramza gently hugged his tiny master, allowing himself to comfort her like the little girl she was.

"Do not cry little Louise, everything will be fine." He whispered in her ear, gently holding the small girl to his chest and humming a soft tune he had often used to calm down Alma when she was scared during their life in the slums.

*scene break*

It was early morning and Louise's classmates were treated to the unusual sight of a neon-red Louise and Ramza as the two of them walked into class and sat down, neither one making eye contact with the other.

"My my, did our little Louise finally succumb to her familiar's good looks?" Kirche teased the two of them, giggling behind her hand.

"W-what?! No, of course not!" Louise protested in outrage at her Germanian classmate.

"Kirche, I assure you and everyone else that I will never make a move to claim Louise's chastity." Ramza declared with an offended tone, earning himself some surprised looks from the people present.

At this point the teacher's door opened, and Professor Kaita appeared.

The students sat in their seats. Professor Kaita was the one who scolded Professor Chevreuse, who fell asleep on guard duty during the Fouquet incident, and was told by Osman 'You're pretty easy to anger'. Sporting long, jet black hair, and a pitch black cape, his every move gave an unfriendly, uncomfortable feel. Although he was quite young, his unfriendly manner and cold look earned him ill repute from the students.

"Let's start the class. As everyone knows, my runic name is 'gust', Kaita the Gust." He was enveloped with shocked stares, and satisfied by that, he continued. "Do you know what the most powerful element is, Zerbst?"

"Isn't that the 'Void' element?"

"I'm not asking for something of the legends. I want something realistic."

Kirche then confidently answered, "Then it has to be the fire element, Professor Kaita," along with her irresistible smile.

"Oh? Why do you think that?"

"Heat and passion can burn anything and everything, isn't that so?"

"I'm afraid that is not so." Kaita said as he pulled out his wand from his waist. "Let's give that a try. Attack me with your best fire elemental attack."

Kirche stood still in surprise. _What is this teacher doing?_

"What is it? I recall that you work best with fire elemental spells, am I right?" Kaita challenged.

"It won't be a simple scald." Kirche winked.

"No problem. Give me your best shot. Don't tell me the flaming red hair of the Zerbst family is there just for looks?"

Kirche's usual brisk smile disappeared. She retrieved her wand from her cleavage, her fiery, crimson long hair stood on their ends and crackled as if flames were erupting from them. She waved her wand, and from her extended right hand appeared a small fireball. As Kirche chanted her spell, the fireball expanded, resulting in a huge flaming sphere of a meter in diameter. The students ducked under their desks in panic. Her wrist turned and spiraled towards her chest, and released the fireball.

Kaita made no attempt to dodge the giant sphere of fire heading towards him. He raised his wand, and made sweeping waves as if swinging a sword. A raging gale suddenly began, and instantly scattered the huge fireball. It even knocked down Kirche, who was standing on the far other side of the room. "Everyone, I now tell you why the wind element is the strongest. It is quite easy. Wind can sweep up everything. Fire, water, and dirt alike cannot find footing when faced against strong enough winds." Kaita briskly announced. "Unfortunately, reality does not let me experiment this, but even Void would probably not stand. That is the wind element."

Kirche stood, displeased, and locked her arms. Kaita paid her no attention, and continued. "The unseen wind shall be the shield that protects everyone, and if needed, the lance that scatters enemies. And one more reason that wind is the most powerful is..." He raised his wand, "YOBIKISUTA DERU WIND..." as he chanted his spell.

However, at this very moment, the door to the classroom opened, and a nervous Colbert entered. He dressed strangely, a huge, golden wig over his head. In close examination, his suit had the most intricate borders and decorations. _Why is he dressed like that?_ Everyone thought.

"Professor Colbert?" Kaita raised a brow.

"Ahhh! I'm sorry, please excuse the intrusion, Professor Kaita."

"Class is in session." Kaita tersely replied, staring at Colbert.

"Today's classes are henceforth canceled." Colbert sternly announced. Cheers emanated from the classroom. To stop them, Colbert waved with both arms, and continued. "I have something to tell everyone." Colbert exaggeratively tilted his head back, causing his wig to slide off to the ground. The tense mood Kaita built suddenly collapsed, as laughter enveloped the classroom.

Tabitha, who sat in front, pointed at his bald head and suddenly said, "Shiny."

The laughter grew more intense. Kirche laughed while rapping Tabitha's shoulder, "You can really talk when you speak up once in a while!"

Colbert blushed, and loudly yelled. "SILENCE! Only commoners laugh out loud! Nobles only covertly snicker with their heads down even if they find something funny! Otherwise, the royal court will question our school's educational results!" The classroom finally quieted to those words.

"All right. Everyone, today would be the most important day for Tristain Magical Academy. This is our great Founder Brimir's birthday, a very celebratory day." Colbert's face straightened, and he placed his arms behind his back.

"It is highly probable that His Majesty's daughter, the beautiful flower that we Tristainians can proudly boast to the rest of Halkeginia, Princess Henrietta, will, to our great fortune, pass by the Academy on her way back from visiting Germania."

Whispers and chatter filled the room.

"Therefore, we must not allow any slack. As this is very sudden news, we have begun preparations to receive her to the best of our abilities. Due to this, today's classes are hereby cancelled. All students, please put on your formal wear, and assemble at the main entrance." The students anxiously nodded in unison. Colbert severely nodded in return, and loudly announced, "This is an excellent opportunity to let Her Majesty the Princess know that everyone has matured as model nobles. Everyone must prepare to their best to let Her Majesty witness this fact! Dismissed!"

*scene break*

As they stood watching the princess enter the Academy gates Ramza found his attention focused on the knights guarding her, his fighter's instinct causing him to unconsciously assess each of them. The one that drew his attention the most was a rather cool-looking man riding some strange beast that Tabitha had told him was called a griffin.

'_I want… to fight him.'_ Ramza thought to himself, not noticing the stares of the two women flanking him that were directed at the same target.

*scene break*

That night...

Ramza sat in his chair by the door, staring at nothing in particular as Louise relaxed in her bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking of Wardes.

Quite suddenly there was a knocking at the door that brought Ramza and Louise out of their respective trances. Standing up and holding Derflinger by the sheathe Ramza opened the door.

Standing there was a girl, covered entirely in a black veil.

She looked around, and then walked in, closing the door behind her.

"...you are?" A shocked Louise barely managed to voice.

The veiled girl made a 'shh' gesture with a finger on her mouth, and took out a staff from her black cape, lightly waving it while chanting a short spell. Glowing powder filled the room.

"A silencing spell?" Louise asked. The veiled girl nodded.

"There might be extra ears and eyes around."

After making sure the room had no magical ears and no peeping holes, she slowly removed her veil.

In front of them is really Princess Henrietta. Ramza felt rather taken aback, Louise was certainly cute, but he had a hard time seeing her as anything but a younger sibling, this woman on the other hand was full-figured and exceedingly beautiful.

Louise frantically went down on her knees, Ramza looked at her in confusion and just stood there, with no idea what was going on.

Henrietta coolly and gently spoke. "It has been a while, Vallière."

Princess Henrietta, who had just appeared in Louise's room, looked like she had been overcome with emotion, and hugged the kneeling girl.

"Oh, Louise, Louise, my dear Louise!"

"This won't do, Your Highness. Coming to a humble place like this..."

Louise said ceremoniously.

"Oh! Louise! Louise Françoise! Please stop acting so formally! You and I are friends! We are friends, are we not?"

"I am not worthy of such kind words. Your Highness."

Louise replied with a steely, strained voice. Ramza just smiled warmly, realizing that he was witnessing a mere social visit between two old friends.

"Stop that, please! Neither the Cardinal, my Mother, or those greedy court aristocrats who buzz around wearing friendly faces are here! Oh, don't I have any friends who will open up to me? If even Louise Françoise, my old friend whom I've missed dearly, acts so distant, I would just die!"

"Your Highness..."

Louise lifted her face.

"When we were little children, didn't we get together and chase butterflies at the palace courtyard? And got all muddy?"

With a shy face, Louise answered.

"...Yes, and La Porte-sama the chamberlain told us off for getting our clothes so dirty."

"Yes! That's right, Louise! We were arguing over those puffy cream cakes, and ended up having a real scuffle! Oh, whenever we fought, it was me who always lost. You would grab my hair, and I'd just start crying."

"Not at all, princess achieved victory on at least one occasion."

Louise said, looking sentimental.

"You remembered! Looking at the two of us, one could call that battle the Siege of Amiens!"

"That was when we were fighting over a dress in princess' bedroom, wasn't it?"

"Yes, in the middle of our 'Make-Believe Royal Court', we ended up fighting over who would play princess! And it was my blow to your stomach Louise Françoise, that successfully decided it."

"I'd fainted in the presence of princess."

After that, the two of them exchanged glances and broke out in laughter. Ramza, amazed, just kept watching them in that state. The princess may have looked like a lady, but she was actually a tomboy.

"That's more like it. Louise. Ah, I'm getting so nostalgic, tears are coming out."

"So how did you two meet exactly?" Ramza asked out of pure curiosity.

Louise closed her eyes in reminiscence before answering.

"I had the pleasure of serving as princess' playmate back when we were children."

After that, Louise turned back to Henrietta.

"But, I am deeply moved that princess would remember such things... I thought you'd already forgotten about me."

The princess gave a deep sigh and sat down on the bed.

"How could I forget? During those times, every day was fun. There was nothing at all to worry about."

There was a profound sadness in her voice.

"Princess?"

Louise looked worried as she peered into Henrietta's face.

"How I envy you. Freedom is such a wonderful thing, Louise Françoise."

"What are you saying? You're the royal princess, are you not?"

"A princess born in her kingdom is like a bird being raised in a cage. You go here and there on your master's every whim..."

Henrietta said, looking lonely as she gazed at the moon outside the window. She then held Louise's hands and gave a sweet smile before speaking.

"I... I'm getting married."

"...You have my congratulations."

Louise, who somehow felt the sadness in that tone, spoke in a subdued voice.

It was at that moment that Henrietta noticed Ramza, who had been up till this point standing off to the side, near Louise's bed.

"Oh, forgive me. Was I intruding?"

"Intruding? How would that be?"

"Well, isn't he your lover? Oh no! It seems I was so caught up reminiscing that I didn't realize my blunder!"

"Huh? Lover? Ramza?" Louise seemed genuinely confused by the prospect.

"Your Highness, I am Miss Valliere's familiar, and I am most assuredly not her lover." Ramza said with an icy tone, having been accused of that one too many times that day.

"Familiar?"

Henrietta looked at Ramza with a blank expression on her face.

"But he looks like a human..."

"I am a human, Princess."

"Ramza, you are being rude." Louise chastened her familiar.

"Oh yes," Ramza suddenly realized, dropping down on one knee and inclining his head.

"Greetings, I am Ramza Beoulve, third son of Knight Gallant Barbaneth Beoulve." Ramza greeted Henrietta with a very formal tone.

"Knight Gallant? I am not familiar with that title."

"It's nothing, just something used in my native country."

Louise looked elated at finding out some more information about Ramza's past while Henrietta gave off another sigh.

"Princess, what happened?"

"No, it's nothing. Forgive me, oh, I'm so ashamed of myself. It's not something I should tell you... but I am just so..."

"Please tell me. What troubles are they that cause princess, as cheerful as she is, to sigh like this?"

"...No, I cannot tell you. Please forget I said anything. Louise."

"I will not! Didn't we use to talk about everything? Princess was the one who had called me a friend. Won't you share your worries with your friend?"

After Louise spoke, Henrietta gave off a cheerful-looking smile.

"You've called me a friend, Louise Françoise. That makes me so happy."

Henrietta nodded her head in determination, and began to talk.

"You must not speak to anyone about what I am about to tell you now."

After that, she gave a quick glance in Ramza's direction.

"Should I step outside?"

Henrietta shook her head.

"A mage and her familiar are as one. I see no reason for you to leave."

And with a sad tone, Henrietta started talking.

"I am to marry the Emperor of Germania..."

"Germania, you say?!"

Louise, who hated Germania, spoke out in astonishment.

"That country of barbaric upstarts?!"

"Yes. But it can't be helped. It must be done to solidify our alliance."

Henrietta explained the political climate of Halkeginia to Louise.

There was an insurrection among the nobles of Albion, and it looked like the Royal Family would soon be overthrown. If the rebels won, then the next thing would be the invasion of Tristain. To defend against this, Tristain was looking to form an alliance with Germania. For the alliance's sake, it was decided that Princess Henrietta would be married into the Germanian Imperial Family...

"So that's why..."

Louise said with a depressed voice. It was clear from Henrietta's tone that she did not desire this wedding.

"It is alright. Louise, I have long since abandoned the notion of marrying the one whom I love."

"Princess..."

"Those two-faced Albion nobles do not want Tristain and Germania to become allies. Two arrows are easier to break when they are not tied together."

Henrietta murmured.

"...Therefore, they have been searching frantically for anything that would interfere with the marriage.

"And they've found something..."

Ramza didn't know anything about the alliance or Albion, but in any case, it seemed like it was something serious.

'_Please do not let this turn out like the War of the Lions.'_ Ramza silently prayed.

"Then this is about that thing that could get in the way of princess' wedding?"

Louise asked, her face looking pale, and Henrietta gave a regretful nod.

"Oh, Founder Brimir... please save this unfortunate princess..."

Henrietta covered her face with her hands, and crumbled on the floor, Ramza felt mild annoyance at the gesture, something so grandiose was purely a waste of energy in his mind.

"Tell me, please! Princess! Just what is it that could interfere with the princess' wedding?"

Louise, like she had also been infected, rattled off with an agitated look. With both hands still on her face, Henrietta looked like she was in pain as she began muttering.

"...It is a letter that I had written some time ago."

"A letter?"

"Yes. If those Albion nobles get their hands on it... they would probably send it forward to the Germanian Imperial Family as soon as they could."

"What kind of letter could that be?"

"...That I cannot tell you. But if the Germanian Imperial Family were to read it... they would never forgive me. The marriage will fall through, and with it, the alliance with Tristain. Then Tristain would stand alone against the strength of Albion."

Louise gave a gasp and seized Henrietta's hands.

"Where would that letter be? The letter that would bring crisis to Tristain!"

Henrietta shook her head.

"It is not with us. The truth of the matter is, it is already in Albion."

"Albion! But then...! Is it already in the enemy's hands?"

"No... The one who holds the letter is not with the rebels of Albion. As the conflict between the rebels and his kinsmen unfolded, Prince Wales of the Royal Family..."

"The Prince Wales? The Prince Valiant?"

Henrietta bent back and laid down on the bed.

"Oh, it's a disaster! Sooner or later, Prince Wales will fall captive to the rebels! And when that happens, the letter will come to light! And everything would be ruined! Ruined! Without an alliance, Tristain would have to take on Albion by itself!"

Louise held her breath.

"Then, Princess, the favor that you're asking of me..."

"Impossible! It's impossible, Louise! How could I be so terrible? It's all confusing! When I think about it, I couldn't ask you to do such a dangerous thing as to go to Albion while this conflict between the nobles and the royalists is unfolding!"

"What are you saying? Be it the kettles of hell, or into the jaws of a dragon, if it's for princess' sake, I'll go anywhere! There is no way the third daughter of the House of la Vallière, Louise Françoise, could overlook such a crisis for princess and Tristain!"

Louise kneeled down and lowered her head reverently.

"Please leave this matter to me, the one who has captured Fouquet the [Crumbling Earth]."

Ramza for some reason had to fight down a chuckle at that statement, but was glad Louise hadn't put him in the spotlight.

"So you will help me? Louise Françoise! You are a dear friend!"

"Of course! Princess!"

Louise grasped Henrietta's hands, and as the former spoke heatedly, the latter gave in and started crying.

"Princess! I, Louise, forever friend of the Princess, will be your confidante! Have you forgotten my vow of eternal loyalty?"

"Ah, the loyalty. This loyalty and sincere friendship! I'm deeply moved. I will never forget through life your loyalty and friendship! Louise Françoise!"

Ramza just stared at the two of them, unsure of what to say.

'_Were Delita and I ever this melodramatic?'_ He wondered mentally.

"Then shall we go to Albion, find the Crown Prince of Wales, and get the letter back, princess?"

"Yes, that is correct. I feel confident that you, the ones who have caught Fouquet the [Crumbling Earth], should be able to accomplish this difficult mission."

"As you wish. How urgent is this task?"

"I've heard that the nobles of Albion have managed to drive the royalists into a corner of the country. It will just be a matter of time before they are defeated."

Louise's face looked serious as she bowed to Henrietta.

"Then tomorrow, we shall depart."

Afterwards, Henrietta turned her gaze towards Ramza. Ramza's heart skipped a beat. Though Louise was also foolishly lovely and neat, Princess Henrietta was so beautiful that he almost gasped. Her millet-colored hair, trimmed right above her eyebrows, was swimming gracefully. Her blue eyes shone brilliantly like the southern seas.

White skin, on which floated a feeling of purity, a nose like a priceless and finely shaped sculpture...

(Worldly desires begone! Worldly desires begone!)

"Sir Ramza, please keep taking care of my most precious friend."

And then she gently held out her hand. Taking her hand in his from his kneeling position Ramza gently kissed the back of it and smiled brightly at the princess.

"I would do that even if my own brother ordered me otherwise." Ramza promised with that same warm smile.

At that time, the door slammed open and someone came flying in.

It was the blonde playboy, Guiche de Gramont, with an ever-present imitation rose in his hand.

"It is a bit late for training Guiche."

"Guiche! You! Were you eavesdropping? Did you hear our conversation just now?!"

"Your Highness! By all means, please appoint me, Guiche de Gramont, to this difficult mission."

"Oh? You?"

"No." Ramza said with finality as he tried to knock Guiche unconscious.

"Let me go with you!" Guiche begged as he collapsed onto his knees, his arms up to ward off Ramza's blows.

"Guiche, why do you want to go so badly?" Louise asked the playboy.

Guiche's face reddened.

"I wish to be of use to Her Highness..."

Ramza just stared at the poor boy, he was so blatantly smitten that Ramza could only sigh.

"I thought you were courting that girl, what was her name? Ah yes, Montmorency."

Guiche remained utterly silent on the matter.

"Gramont? Ah, of General Gramont?"

Henrietta fixed her eyes on Guiche's vacantly looking face.

"I am his son, Your Highness."

Guiche stood up and gave a reverent bow.

"Are you also saying that you wish to help me?"

"It would be an unexpected blessing for me if I were to become a part of that mission."

Henrietta smiled at Guiche's enthusiastic expression.

"Thank you. Your father is a great, brave noble, and it seems you have inherited his blood. Then, please. Would you help this unfortunate princess, Sir Guiche?"

"Her Highness has called my name! Her Highness! Tristain's lovely flower, has smiled her rosy smile at me!"

Guiche, having felt too much excitement, fell on his back in a faint.

"Are all Tristainians so melodramatic?" Ramza asked the two girls.

_GAH! I'm a-LIVE! This chapter was frackin' murder to write, I don't know how people do it. Anyways, the little scene with Ramza and Louise just left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Also, I just realized with this chapter, about half of Ramza's action is just me putting in my own personal responses to certain situations, I'm not sure I like that…_


	10. Chapter 10

I am temporarily placing Zero no Itan-sha on hiatus until I can work up the motivation to continue it, I have the next chapter in the works but I want to work on some other stories for awhile instead of just this one.


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